Caught in the Music
by Candlestic
Summary: Nico and Pedro are renowned throughout Rio for their amazing musical abilities. So when a talent seeker comes to Rio looking for talent he immediately offers them the chance to be world famous. However, Nico and Pedro are about to learn that no dream is without a catch. Now it's up to their friends to get them out before they're lost to the music forever.
1. Chapter 1: A rude awakening

**Author's note: Hey I'm back :), and with a new story! I'm really excited. I love the idea for this one. Okay first off, this is going to be a long author's note because I've got a lot to say.**

**Firstly, this is a prequel to my other story Nightingale, meaning that they are linked. However, this one doesn't have much to do with the other one (apart from little references), it doesn't even have the same OC's and bad guys in it, so it makes perfect sense standing individually. This means you don't need to read Nightingale first (though you can if you want to). I am, however, thinking of doing a sequel to both of them, linking characters from both this one and Nightingale, so you'll need to read both if you want to read that one (Btw, I'm a little hazy on the storyline atm so any ideas would be greatly appreciated).**

**Secondly, to anyone who did read Nightingale (firstly thanks for reading it :) ), I'm afraid this one isn't the same genre so some of you may not like it as much. Nightingale was more of a Romance/ Adventure whereas this one is more of a Suspense/ Action/ Family one. Both do have fluffiness and this one does have a little romance here and there. But I'd just thought I'd give you a heads up before hand (And I hope people enjoy it as much as Nightingale).**

**And thirdly, I know there is a story about musically talented birds being captured already, Birds of a feather by Strykeruk, but I'm confident that this one is different enough and the author doesn't mind if I publish this.**

**Phew, now, sorry about all that, I'll try to make sure the other A/N's aren't as long. Thanks for getting through all of it. Hope you enjoy the story. :)**

**BTW, I don't own Rio or any of it's characters only my story and my OC's - this will stay this way for the remainder of the story.**

* * *

Rafael landed outside the darkened hollow and sighed when he heard the light snores coming from within. He let his gaze wander over the surrounding forest, admiring the sun as it fell through the trees and adding a sparkle to the peaceful lake down below. At the same time, a soft breeze rustled through the leaves, cooling the warm but not stifling hot morning. Figures they would be sleeping on such a beautiful day as this.

He hopped lightly into the hollow. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he began to make out the two sleeping forms. Pedro lay in a perilous position, with the lower half of his body barely in his nest while the rest of him hung off the side. Other the other hand, Nico lay spread out on his stomach, his bottle cap blocking his face from the entrance.

"Ay Caramba!" Rafael called. "You two still sleeping?"

The sudden shout woke Pedro up with a start, causing him to fall out of his nest. Nico, however, simply lifted up his bottle cap to look at Rafael with bleary eyes. "Hey Rafi," he yawned, "What brings you here so early?"

"Yeah," Pedro pouted, rubbing his head, "a little warning would've been nice."

"Early?" Rafael squawked. "Have you two seen the position of the sun? It's an absolutely beautiful day and you guys are sleeping it away. You really need to get out more."

"Hey, we're free birds," Pedro shot back. "We should be able to get up and go to bed when want."

"Speaking of which," Rafael narrowed his eyes. "How late did you two get back from the Branch last night?"

Nico and Pedro froze, obviously fake smiles plastering themselves on their faces. "We didn't get back late," Pedro smiled.

Rafael simply narrowed his eyes further, being the father of eighteen chicks was paying off. "How early?"

The two of them began to sweat until finally Nico broke, "Alright. We got back at 3 o'clock."

"In the morning!" Rafael exclaimed.

"Nice work there," Pedro muttered to Nico.

"Hey at least I didn't bring up the topic."

"Amigos!" Rafael broke in. "You've got to stop doing this. It's not good for you. And neither is sleeping cooped up in here all day. So I'm putting my foot down." Pedro and Nico looked at each other apprehensively, knowing that there was no way to get out of whatever Rafi had in mind. When Rafael put his foot down, he put his foot down – no exceptions. "You're going to come to the beach."

* * *

"Hey Blu! Jewel!" Rafael shouted as he saw the two blue macaws soaring overhead. Recognising his friend, Blu glided to the ground. "Rafael, it's good to see you, how've you been?"

"I've been good. Well, as good as you can get with eighteen chicks. I've got a couple more grey feathers but I haven't lost any this week so I can't complain. How about you?"

While they were talking, Jewel glided down, doing a couple of loops and twirls on the way. With one final spin, she landed gracefully on the ground. "Hey Rafi," she smiled.

"Jewel," Rafael hugged her. "I see you're making full use of your wing again."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" she winked.

"She's been acting like this for a whole week now," Blu commented to Rafael.

Jewel nudged him. "Why shouldn't I? After being grounded for a month, being able to fly is absolutely exhilarating."

Blu smiled, "As has being able to fly with you."

A soft smile lit Jewel's face as she gazed into Blu's large brown eyes. However, realising they were not alone she quickly shook herself off and continued, "Besides, the weather has been absolutely beautiful. Who wouldn't want to spend all their time out in the open air?"

"Well for starters: them."

Blu and Jewel followed Rafael's gesture, causing their slightly confused expressions to become amused. Sprawled out on his back, Pedro lay sound asleep; one wing on his stomach and the other splayed out above his head. Propped up against him lay Nico, his bottle cap covering his face, and his body gently rising and falling with the motion of Pedro's belly.

"They've been like that ever since we arrived at the beach," Rafael commented.

Jewel stared at them incredulously, "How can they be asleep on such a beautiful day?"

"Well that's what happens when they're at the Branch all night," Rafael shrugged.

"Again?" Blu gaped. "You know, despite it being biologically impossible, I'm starting to think those two are becoming nocturnal."

"Not on my watch they're not," Jewel stated before flying off.

"Ah Jewel?" Blu asked as he hopped after her. "What are you doing?"

In front of him, Jewel was struggling with a child's bucket half buried in the sand.

"Blu, come on: help me with this."

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," Blu commented as he helped her pull it up from the sand.

"Aw, come on Blu, live a little," Jewel said to him lifting the bucket up and over to the water. "It's not going to hurt them. And you can't tell me they don't deserve it."

Blu looked between Jewel and the two sleeping figures a couple of times before he grinned, "Why not."

* * *

Nico and Pedro woke up with a start as they were drenched in cold water.

"Aaaaahhhh!"

After the initial shock was over, they glared at Jewel, Blu and Rafael who were laughing their heads off at them, the former two leaning against a now empty bucket.

Pedro looked between them and his drenched feathers. "Not cool man. Not cool," he pouted.

"Yeah," Nico agreed, crossing his wings with a scowl. "That wasn't fair at all."

Despite how serious they were trying to seem, their dripping wet feathers made them look quite comical, causing the three larger birds burst into a new round of laughter. Eventually their laughter subsided and they turned back to the still glaring, still sopping wet pair.

Blu smiled at them, "Oh come on: it wasn't that bad was it?"

"I don't see you soaking wet," Pedro returned.

Jewel shook her head, "Come on guys, what did you expect? You were sleeping at the beach at 1pm in the afternoon: you had it coming."

At her words Nico and Pedro's eyes went wide and they glanced at each other nervously. "Wait," Nico asked. "It's 1 o'clock?"

Blu nodded, "Well, according to the lifesaver's clock it is now two minutes past one."

The two birds shared another horrified look as Pedro moaned, "Oh we are so dead."

"Wait, what's going on?" Rafael asked.

"Can't chat now, we're late!" Pedro called as he and Nico took off in a hurry, wet feathers forgotten.

"Hurry up Pedro!" Nico called. "We're going to be late enough to our performance as it is."

"I'm flying as fast as I can!" Pedro retorted as they flew out of sight.

Jewel shook her head, "Will they ever learn?"

Rafi looked at her with a smile, "Would you really want them to change?"

She gave a rueful laugh, "No."

* * *

**And there you have it :) The first chapter. Sorry about it being so short, I promise to make the next one longer. Hope you liked it.**


	2. Chapter 2: The late bird gets the worm

**Author's note: So, next chapter. I told you it would be longer :). Firstly, I would like to give recognition to KhallieGurl who came up with the name of the club 'The Branch', and let me use it in my first story. All rights go to her for the name. And secondly, the song in this chapter is loud by Stan Walker. That's all for now, so enjoy :). **

* * *

Kipo paced nervously to and fro in the club. It was quite rare indeed to see the normally laid back, friendly spoonbill with his pink feathers in disarray and tripping over his long legs in anxiety. But no one could really blame him: he'd had a bad morning. Performers had been sick, things had been misplaced, the lights had been malfunctioning and just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, his headliners were late. Things just seemed to be going wrong. And to top it all off, there was a rumour going around that a talent scout was currently roaming Rio. In fact, he'd been sitting in the Branch all morning. Not that the bird had told anyone that, but Kipo had seen his fair share of talent scouts. He knew one when he saw one: there was something in their stance. The way they sat relaxed yet alert at the same time, and how their eyes held a certain analytical look to it. However, something about this particular talent scout just didn't sit right with Kipo. As beneficial as it was to have a talent scout seen in his club, he just hoped that the bird had nothing to do with his performers.

Speaking of performers, Nico and Pedro were on in a minute and they still hadn't arrived. As lazy as those two could be, they were rarely late or unable to perform. So then where were they?

As if in answer to his prayers, the two birds in question shot through the door only to trip and tumble into a conspicuous heap in the middle of the dance floor, laughing their heads off.

Kipo allowed himself a small sigh before he rushed over to them. "Come on, you guys are on next, let's go, let's go," he urged upon reaching them. He paused for a second to take in their sopping wet appearance in shock, "Why are you guys wet?"

They looked at each other, "Ahh."

Kipo just shook his head, "On second thought, I don't want to know. Besides, you need to get backstage, come on!" He pushed the two small birds forward with his wings.

Nico turned around with a frown, "Yo Kipo. Are you okay? You seem a little stressed."

Kipo stopped pushing them and sighed, letting some of the tension drop off him. "Yeah, I've just had a bit of a bad morning. But it's nothing to worry about." His gaze reached the stage and he realised the last performer had finished. Startled into action Kipo ushered them forward. "I'll tell you all about it after. Right now you're up."

With simultaneous nods Pedro and Nico flew up onto the darkened stage.

Kipo let out a relieved sigh: one less thing to worry about. Nico and Pedro could handle themselves once on the stage.

Slowly the music faded in along with Nico's voice, both increasing in volume, _"Looouud, looouud, loud. We can make it looouud, looouud, loud."_

When he reached full volume, the lights came up on the stage, revealing the duo as they started to sing, _**"We can make it looouud, looouud, loud. We can make it looouud, looouud, loud."**_

Nico took over the lyrics as Pedro launched into the dance routine, _"__When the lights go down and the stars come out. We can rock it, we-a, we-a, we can rock it."_

Now Pedro stepped forward to sing accompanied by Nico's dancing, **"Got me feeling right, I could dance all night till we drop it. Nobody tells us when to go."**

They slid together with the music, _"DJ turn it up, we're not coming down."_

"**And through all the noise, make them hear the sound."**

"_When two hearts as one light up the crowd."_

"**Through all the noise, we can make it,"**

The launched into the chorus, the beat thumping through the club. _**"Looouud, looouud, loud." **_

The audience swelled with the music, dancing along with them. _**We can make it looouud, looouud, loud."**_

Lifting the dance moves into the air, Pedro sang, **"We're so high right now, lifting off the ground. We can feel it, we-a, we-a, we need it."**

On the ground, Nico took over, _"Up to you and I, we command the night. We ain't leaving, nobody tells us when to go."_

Nico flew up to join Pedro, **"DJ turn it up, we're not coming down."**

"_And through all the noise, make them hear the sound."_

"**When two hearts as one, light up the crowd."**

"_Through all the noise, we can make it,"_

"_**Looouud, looouud, loud. We can make it looouud, looouud, loud."**_

Flying over the crowd, they mingled with the audience. _"Hey, ye-ah, yeah. Heyyy, yeah, yeah."_

"**We're going to make it loud."**

"_Hey, yeaah, yeeeaaahhhh."_

With a thump they both landed on the stage, pausing for a second.

"**DJ turn it up," **Pedro sang while Nico accompanied over the top,_ "Turn it up."_

"**We're not coming down. And through all the noise, make them hear the sound."**

"_Make them hear the sound."_

"**When two hearts as one, light up the crowd."**

"_Light up the crowd."_

"**Through all the noise." **Together they launched back into the routine. _**"We can make it looouud, looouud, loud."**_

"_Till you make it loooouuud, loooouuud, yeeeeaah."_

"**We can make it looouud, looouud, loud. We can make it looouud, looouud, loud."**

"_We can make it loooouuud."_

"**Hey!"**

"_Heeey."_

"**Hey!"**

"_Yeeeaah."_

"**Hey!"**

"_Make it looooouuuud." _And with that, the lights went out on the stage.

A huge round of applause sounded from the crowd and the audience swamped the pair as they flew off the stage. Kipo was making his way over to congratulate them when several of the backstage crew came to him with yet another problem. He sighed: looked like it just one of those days. And so it was that he didn't see the rumoured talent scout get up and make his way over to Nico and Pedro.

Pedro and Nico were basking in the praise of their several fans when a new bird came up to them. He was a Cockatiel by the looks of it: with a yellow head and orange cheeks that contrasted sharply to his grey body. His crest was groomed back and his feathers were sleek which immediately identified him as a pet. Yet here he was walking around like a free bird.

"What a marvellous job that was," he greeted them. He stuck his wing out to shake as he continued, "You may have noticed but I'm new around here. My name is Jarvis and my owner is currently here on a business trip."

They shook his wing.

"Nico."

"Pedro." They introduced themselves. "And we're locals here. Always have been."

"Yeah," Nico affirmed. "Grew up together here."

"Ah, childhood friends," Jarvis smiled.

"Brothers actually," Pedro corrected.

"Brothers? How is that possible?" Jarvis asked surprised.

He obviously touched a nerve, as both Pedro and Nico looked uncomfortable. "It's a long story," Pedro said briefly.

Jarvis dropped the subject and instead brought up the one he'd been meaning to bring up. "I must admit, congratulating you wasn't the only reason I came over. I actually have a proposition for you. Would you mind coming somewhere private to discuss it?" Curious, Pedro and Nico shrugged and followed the bird out the door.

One outside on a secluded crate, the Cockatiel turned to them. "Now: let me formally introduce myself," he turned to them with a slight bow, "My name is Jarvis Northwing, the talent scout of Winged International Music, or WIM. You may have heard of us."

Pedro and Nico's mouths dropped in surprise, their eyes wide. 'May have heard of' was an understatement: WIM was the biggest performance company for birds in the world. They traveled from city to city around the globe to live screen performances from some of the best singers and dancers worldwide. They were legendary, but because of the sheer number of places around the world they went, the WIM festival only came around once a generation. Last year Rio had had the honour of having them arrive at their city and for the whole week the hype had been phenomenal. And, just like every other bird, Nico and Pedro had been caught up in the hype too. After all, it was every performer's dream to be able to perform with WIM. It was seen as the pinnacle of success.

"Dude," Pedro said in awe, "seriously?"

Jarvis chuckled, "Seriously. And my proposition to you is the chance to become a part of the company and perform around the world. You two are good. Really good."

"Dude," Nico gaped, "seriously?"

"Seriously."

The two party birds exchanged excited grins before Pedro turned serious. Scrutinising the bird before them he asked, "So what exactly does your offer entail? Any catch?"

Jarvis smiled and shook his head. "If you choose to become a part of WIM you'll be asked to do a whole bunch of performances, which will be recorded to be seen around the world. In return, the whole time you're in the recording sessions you'll have access to food, water and other comforts."

"What about travel?" Nico asked. "We really don't have any desire to leave Rio."

"Not a problem. All performances are recorded in your city of residence, making the travel optional." Jarvis looked between the two of them. "Any other information you want?"

They glanced at each other before identical smiles lit their faces. "We're in."

"Excellent," Jarvis clapped. "If you really want to join, you can audition at 4:00 at the old school on the west side of the city."

"Audition?" Nico queried.

"Well yes," Jarvis explained. "I'm only the talent scout, my boss is the one who runs it all. He'll need to see what you can do, so that he can organise you into the program. Really audition is just a formal name. Almost all the birds I find get through – one of the reasons I'm so good at my job. Anyway, you can perform the song you did today or another one. It doesn't really matter, just as long as you do something. I hope that's not too much of an inconvenience for you?"

"Hey it's cool," Pedro replied. "We'll be there."

"That's absolutely marvellous," Jarvis replied shaking their wings vigorously. "I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear that." He paused, looking a bit sheepish, "May I ask a small favour of you however? Could you keep this on the down low? You see, WIM is a rather well known company and I do my best work inconspicuously. I always find that talent is so much more genuine when the performers are not trying to impress you."

"No problem," Nico shrugged.

"Oh thank you," Jarvis beamed. "Now, I must be off. I have a job to do after all." With a final wave the Cockatiel flew off.

Pedro turned to Nico, "This is so awesome! Let's go tell Rafi!"

"Woah," Nico stopped him, "What about the whole down low thing?"

Pedro rolled his eyes, "Rafi doesn't count, he's our friend. Now come on!"

With a shrug, Nico flew after him.

* * *

Just having gotten back from the beach, Rafael had landed outside his hollow when all of a sudden he was almost knocked from the branch by two overly excited red and yellow torpedoes. He'd only just recognised them as Nico and Pedro when they started talking excitedly over the top of each other to him.

"Woah, woah," Rafael stopped them, "Calm down. I can't understand anything you're saying."

Once they'd (relatively) calmed down, Rafael spoke again. "Okay, now what happened? Slowly."

"Rafi," Pedro started, "you'll never guess what happened!"

"We were performing at the Branch right!" Nico took over.

"And there was a talent scout there!"

"But not just any talent scout!"

"The one from Winged International Music!"

"And he wants us to perform for them!"

"Woah, woah guys," Rafael stopped them again. "Don't you think you're rushing things a bit? These things aren't always what they seem."

"Don't worry Rafi," Nico was undeterred.

"We scoped him out. Just like you taught us," Pedro added.

Rafael was about to say something else but Pedro cut him off, "Now, we've got to go practise. We've got an audition at four at the old school on the west side."

"We're going to do our new one," Nico told him, and with that they flew off.

Rafael sat stunned for a moment from the sudden appearance and disappearance of his friends.

As he was sitting there, Eva came out of the hollow. "Those two," she shook her head. "I told you to keep them away from the sugar." Upon not getting a reply, she hopped over next to Rafael, turning his beak towards her, "Hey, are you okay?"

He looked her, "Yeah I'm fine. I just…I have a bad feeling about this. I've heard rumours about WIM. Darker ones: underground performances, birds disappearing. That kind of thing. I'm just worried about them."

"Hey," Eva told him, "they're not the little birds you babysat for Gloria anymore. They're big birds now. They can handle themselves."

"Yeah I know," Rafael sighed looking down.

"However," Eva continued, "sometimes it doesn't hurt to help out. Go. Do what you have to do."

Rafael smiled at her before giving her a quick kiss, "Thanks my juicy mango."

"No problem my pudgy papaya," Eva replied. "Just hurry back!" She called as he flew off.

* * *

**Please, reviews would be most appreciated :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Music will break your heart

**Author's note: Hey so here's the next chapter. Not my best work but I'm currently in exam time at the moment. The song in this one is music won't break your heart by Stan Walker. Enjoy :)**

* * *

Rafael flew over the eastern side of Rio. In his head he went over the details the other birds had given to him on the talent scout. As he scanned the area below, his eyes fell on the target of his mission. With a deep breath he flew into a dive, pulling into a spin and 'accidentally' flying into the Cockatiel below.

"Oh I'm so sorry mi amigo," Rafael apologised, pulling the bird upright. "I should have been watching where I was going."

"That's alright," the bird smiled, looking slightly dazed still.

"It's just sometimes the feeling when you fly makes you forget everything around you, if you know what I mean."

"No, unfortunately I don't."

The toucan smiled, "Ah well. Anyway, where are my manners? My name is Rafael." He held out his wing.

"Jarvis," the bird replied, shaking.

_Check one._

"I'm sorry, I'm quite bad with introductions. Not very used to them. You see, Rafael knows everyone." He chuckled. "Well at least I thought I did. I don't know you, it seems. Are you new around here?"

"Yeah," Jarvis replied. "My owner is here on a business trip."

"Must be a good owner," Rafi commented. "You don't find too many who let their charges out and about in a foreign country."

"Yeah," the Cockatiel smiled. "My owner is very unique. We have a special bond."

"So, is there anything in particular you're looking for in Rio? I can almost guarantee I can help you find anyone or anyplace in this city."

The bird brightened slightly, "Well actually, I'm a bit of a music fan. You wouldn't happen to know where all the clubs in Rio are, would you?"

_Check two._

Rafael nodded his head, "Of course! The best ones would have to be the Branch at the fruit market, Feathered Soul on the north coast beach, and Orange above the pizza shop on Central Road. There are plenty of other smaller ones, but they're easy enough to find if you ask around. Rio de Janeiro is a city full of music, so it's not hard to come by. However, if you really are a lover of music, you should have been around this time last year. Winged International Music was here. Now that was spectacular. You've heard of WIM haven't you?"

"Why yes. Yes I have," the bird replied, however Rafael noticed the slightest hint of uncomfortableness.

_Check three. Time to change tactics._

He laughed, "Well I'd be surprised if you hadn't heard of it. Considering how you're the talent scout for it." His expression turned serious, "I told you, Rafael hears everything. And I haven't heard good things about WIM. Now I understand that rumours can be based on nothing but sometimes it's not worth the risk. Especially when it concerns my very good friends Nico and Pedro; I know about their audition at the old school. Now you should know that if anything happens to them, I will hunt you down and make sure you pay. Got it?"

He felt satisfied to see the slight hint of fear in the other bird's eyes before the Cockatiel covered it up with a smile, "Well you don't have to worry about that, because nothing's going to happen to them."

Rafael patted him on the back, "That's good. Then you have nothing to worry about. Anyway, I'm late to meet my wife for lunch. It was nice meeting you. Good luck with finding the clubs!" And with that he flew off.

* * *

Nico and Pedro landed outside the old school in nervous anticipation. "Are you sure this is the right place?" Nico asked. "What if we got the wrong time? What if we stuff up?"

"Dude," Pedro cut him off. "Relax. This is the right place and time. And we won't stuff up cause we're awesome. Now come on."

They were just about to fly inside when a familiar figure met them at the door.

"Hey Jarvis!" Pedro called with a wave.

His face split into a smile, "Ahh, my friends. What a pleasure it is to see you here. Come, follow me. I'll show you to your audition."

They followed him through the corridors until they reached the backstage area of the auditorium. Peering round past the curtains, they were surprised to see sitting at the judges desk, not only a bird but also a human.

"Wait," Nico asked, "we're performing for a human?"

"Why yes," Jarvis replied. "This is my owner and boss, Arthur Pierre. You see, I actually speak human, it's one of my many skills. So Arthur and I have a mutual partnership: I help him out with his business and in return, he helps me by organising and providing all the equipment and flights for WIM so I can bring great music to birds around the world. Amazing no?"

Pedro and Nico just nodded.

"Anyway, the bird next to him is my brother, Martin: he's the choreographer and song writer, he'll be sitting through your performance too. I hope you don't mind."

"No, that's fine," Nico shrugged.

"I'm glad to hear it," Jarvis smiled. "Now, once you finish and if they like it, I'll run you down on how your schedule will work, and maybe introduce you to some of the workers here. But for now, shall I tell them that you're ready?"

"Go for it," Pedro gave him a thumb's up and with that, Jarvis flew off to tell his owner and brother.

After a shared grin between them, Pedro and Nico also flew out, landing on the stage and getting into their starting positions. Noticing all three pairs of eyes on them, Nico took that as their cue to start. _"Oohh," _he began. _"When everybody's gone, and no one else is on the same train."_

"**Same train," **Pedro echoed him.

Nico started dancing, _"Moving on your own, and you're the only one who's changing."_

"**Changing."**

Pedro joined him in the routine. _"Straight ahead, you thought this road was going to be easy. But you missed again, that kind of love never lasts forever."_

Together they launched into their main moves, _**"Love can break your heart, but not tonight."**_

"**Let the music play," **Pedro sang, **"Let the music play."**

"_**Let yourself be free, this is your night."**_

"**Let the music play. Let the music play."**

"_**Because the music, the music, the music won't break your heart."**_

"**Let the music play. Let the music play."**

"_**Because the music, the music, the music won't break your heart, ha-ha-ha-heart."**_

They slowed it down again, _"Let your heart sounds to the beat and let it save you."_

"**Save you."**

"_Hold the rhythm close, feel its love appreciate you."_

"**Appreciate you."**

"_Let it take you in, because it's always there when you need it. Let it raise your skin. Give you everything that your missing."_

"_**Love can break your heart, but not tonight."**_

"**Let the music play. Let the music play."**

"_**Let yourself be free, this is your night."**_

"**Let the music play. Let the music play."**

"_**Because the music, the music, the music won't break your heart."**_

"**Let the music play. Let the music play."**

"_**Because the music, the music, the music won't break your heart, ha-ha-ha-heart."**_

Both paused before Pedro took centre stage with his break dancing. **"Let the music play," **he sang, continuing his routine.** "L-let the music play."** He worked his way with ease through some of the hardest moves in break dancing they were almost thought physically impossible.

"_**Because the music, the music," **_Nico joined him. _**"Won't break your heart."**_

"_He-ah-ah-ah-art."_

They both paused again before continuing slowly.

"**Love can break your heart, but not tonight."**

"_But not tonight, hey!" _Nico sang over the top.

"**Let yourself be free, this is your night."**

"_This is your night, hey!"_

Together they launched into the routine with more vigour. _**"Because the music, the music, the music won't break your heart."**_

"**Let the music play. Let the music play."**

"_**Because the music, the music, the music won't break your heart, ha-ha-ha-heart."**_

"_**Because the music, the music, the music won't break your heart."**_

"**Let the music play. Let the music play."**

"_He-ey-ey-eyyy."_

"_**Because the music won't break your heart, ha-ha-ha-heart."**_

A small round of applause came from their audience as Nico and Pedro finished.

Arthur nodded his head to Jarvis who flew up to the stage excitedly. "They loved it," he congratulated them. "You guys are in."

Nico and Pedro let out a whoop and started high-fiving each other, exhilarated.

Jarvis waited patiently for them to stop before saying, "Now, if you'd like to follow me, I'll give you the run down on your schedule for this week."

* * *

The three birds walked down the halls of the old building, as Nico and Pedro listened to Jarvis talk, "Now, because we are only in Rio de Janeiro for a week our schedule is pretty tight and we'll take up quite a bit of your week." The two birds listening just nodded. "For the next couple of days you'll need to come in for practice, to rehearse the singing and dancing for the song you'll be performing. After that, we'll get you to do the performance properly and get a video of it, which will go overseas to be seen in the WIM festivals around the world."

Pedro and Nico gave him excited grins, still unable to believe this was happening. The grins faded however, as they turned the corner to see two humans working in the next corridor. After the whole smuggler's fiasco upon meeting Blu and Jewel, they were still a little wary when it came to humans. Jarvis however, was completely at ease, even giving them a nod as they passed. He noticed their wary expressions, "Don't worry about them. They work for Arthur, helping move all the equipment and stuff around."

Nico and Pedro relaxed a little bit but kept an eye on them anyway, until they were completely past. A little way further up the hall, they came to a pause outside a door.

"Now," Jarvis turned to them, "What's inside this room is very important to your time at WIM." He lifted the keys he'd carried with him from the auditorium and flew up to the lock.

After a little while, Nico and Pedro 's excitement turned amusement as the Cockatiel struggled to find the right key. As they bird tried key after key, Pedro turned to Nico with a smirk, "You'd think with the high position he has at WIM that he'd be better at remembering which key is which."

Nico just shrugged; however, his matching grin told Pedro that he found it just as amusing. They were both so focused on the struggling bird that they didn't realise the trouble they were in until it was too late.

The two party birds gave out simultaneous gasps as hands shot out and grabbed them. As they struggled, they could now see that they're captors were none other than the two workers they'd passed before.

"Hey Jarvis," Pedro called, "Could you call off those 'fine' workmen of yours?"

Jarvis, however, didn't seem to hear him, calling out, "Got it!" as the door before him was finally unlocked. As he turned around both Pedro and Nico grew still. While the bird was still smiling, gone was the warmth and friendliness of before; in its place, was a cold hard distain. "Boys," even his voice was different – harder and more ominous – as he addressed the workers in human English, "Why don't we show our new 'recruits' what's behind this door."

He opened the door and Nico and Pedro's blood went cold. Their struggling increased, even going as far as biting the hands that held them. But it was no use, the workers were too good and the two birds found themselves thrust into the separate cages sitting on the bench.

Jarvis flew up to their cages and with the keys he'd 'fumbled' with earlier, deftly locked them in.

"Hey!" Pedro shouted as he and Nico rammed their cages, "What's the big idea?"

Jarvis just watched them impassively, "That won't do you any good. You see, 'the big idea'," he put quotation marks around it with his fore feathers, "is that you now belong to WIM. So you might as well get comfortable because you'll be living in those cages for the rest of your lives."

"What? Nuh-uh," Nico yelled. "We didn't sign up for this."

"Yeah," Pedro added, "so let us out, you slimy, good for nothing, two-faced _pet_."

The Cockatiel's eyes narrowed and he brought his face very close to Pedro's, "My patience with you two is almost through, so I'd watch my mouth. You two are the most annoying, unprofessional birds I've ever met. You made me want to scream: but you were too good to pass up, so I did my job and dealt with it. Now I have no such obligations, so watch out." He pushed Pedro in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards.

"Hey! You leave my brother alone!" Nico shouted.

"As for you," Jarvis sauntered up to his cage and before Nico could react, he took Nico's iconic hat.

"My bottle cap!" Nico called, reaching after his possession.

Jarvis stared at the cap with distain, "Such items are tacky and unprofessional. It's a piece of trash," he tossed the cap into a nearby trashcan, "and therefore will have no place in WIM."

Nico let out a pained whine as he watched his prized possession disappear into the bin, before sinking to the bottom of his cage.

Motioning to the workers to leave, Jarvis started to fly off. However, Pedro, angered by the loss of Nico's hat and determined to have the last word stopped him. He called out, "You know you're the unprofessional one: you lied about everything when you talked to us. No _real _businessman would do that."

Jarvis paused at the door, "Actually, everything I told you was the truth. I just decided to leave out some of the details." And with that he left, leaving the two in darkness.

* * *

**Please, please, please review :)**


	4. Chapter 4: Enter the cat

**Author's note: The song in this chapter is from the musical honk, called you can play with your food. Enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

They were silent for a while, before Pedro stood up. "Come on. We've got to get out of here, so I'm going to pop this cage open like a soda can." He started pushing and ramming the bars, looking for a weakness.

"You call that popping?" Nico joked, however Pedro could tell it was only half-hearted.

Seriously he replied, "Just you wait. I will get it." He moved his attention to the lock, seeing if he could do more with that."

"I wouldn't do that if I was you." A voice called out from the shadows.

"Who's there?" Pedro called.

"Or maybe you should try it," the voice sounded from the other side of the room, causing Nico and Pedro to spin around. "All the better for me."

"Show yourself," Nico shouted.

"If you insist." Slowly the creature emerged from the shadows; black fur covered the creature from head to tail, explaining her ease of hiding before. Now out in the open however, the two birds could tell with dawning horror exactly what she was.

"C-c-cat." Pedro stuttered.

The cat rolled her eyes. "That's right b-b-birdy, I'm a cat." She smiled as she jumped up onto the table with the two cages. "And it's my job to make sure no birds escape my owner." Her grin widened. "Unfortunately, the job has a bit of a causality rate. But I can live with that."

She circled the cages once before jumping back down. "So, since we'll be working together for a while, how about some introductions?" She strutted into the nearby darkness. "My name is Shadow: because I dwell in the darkness, coming and going," her voice suddenly came from behind, "when you least expect it."

The two birds spun around in surprise to find the cat crouching right behind their cages. Quickly they backed away from the bars.

"So," she purred, dropping onto her stomach, "now that you know who I am, what about you?"

Nico and Pedro both kept their mouths shut, knowing that it would be very unwise to give this cat any information on them.

She grinned at them, "What? Cat got your tongue?" The silence continued. Sighing she got up, "Come on, you've got to have names." She put a paw into Pedro's cage, "How about you tubby: you have a name?"

"Eep!" Pedro exclaimed, shuffling away from the incoming paw. It did no use however, as she just kept going after him.

"Hey!" Nico shouted, "Leave him alone!"

Shadow's eyes shifted to him, her paw slowly retracting from Pedro's cage. "Well don't you have a loud voice for one so small," she commented. Nico backed away a little as she advanced, wishing he still had his bottle cap with him; mentally he felt vulnerable without it. "But didn't your mother tell you it's rude to shout?"

Mutely, Nico shook his head.

"Pity," the cat purred, locking her bright, green eyes on his, "You want to know what my mother taught me?" She pulled away a bit. "She said: _You can scratch the antique furniture to sharpen up your claws." _Her claws came out with a click.

"_You can lacerate the cushions if you're ever shut indoors." _She pulled her claws along the table in emphasis, leaving behind deep scratches in the wood.

"_You can dig up all the flowers from the freshly planted beds._

_And with articles of clothing it's okay to pull some threads."_

Lightly she jumped on top of their cages, _"But I remember as a kindergarten kitten, one phrase that left me singularly smitten."_

She jumped off the cages, landing back on the table with a thump. Shadow turned and slowly started stalking towards them singing, _"You can play with your food before you eat it._

_You can chivvy your chow before you chew._

_You can play with your food you can't beat it." _

Sideling up next to their cages she continued, _"So birdies let me play with you."_

She started circling Pedro's cage. _"You can play with your food before you bite it,"_ she sang, bringing her teeth close to Pedro on the 'bite'.

She padded towards Nico next, landing on his cage, _"You can toy with your tuck before the crunch."_

Circling them she continued, _"You can play with your food, why fight it? It's a crazy little game called _lunch." Before either of the birds could react, Shadow's paw shot out and caught Nico tightly in its grip.

"Shadow!" Mr. Pierre called from the doorway, having just entered. "What have I told you about playing with our performers? Now put him down."

With a hiss Shadow threw Nico across his cage, laughing at his cry of pain as he nicked his wing on the lock. "Until next time birdies. I'll be waiting." And with that she faded into the darkness.

Nico clutched his wing tightly, slowing the small flow of blood.

"You okay?" Pedro asked, leaning up against the bars.

"Yeah," Nico grimaced. "I'm fine. It's not that deep. See, it's stopping already."

Still a little bit worried but satisfied for the time being, Pedro followed Nico's gaze to where Arthur had entered. At his instruction, the two workers behind him came and picked up their cages.

As they moved out into the hallway a panicked Pedro blurted out, "Hey wait. Where are you taking us?"

Jarvis, who had been perched on Arthur's shoulder the whole time turned to him. "To the other birds of course. Now shut up. I'm not in the mood to deal with you. Thanks to your blabber mouths we have to move our audition site so that your toucan friend can't find us. Thankfully we have the foresight to not have all our important items in the same place as our auditions."

Pedro and Nico rolled their eyes at each other but didn't speak. After all, they now had hope: if Rafael knew where they'd gone, then it was only a matter of time till he found them.

Once outside, they were carefully placed into the back of a van to be carted off to whatever lay in store for them. The trip was quiet, neither one of them wanting to talk – a rarity of events. Instead, they huddled as close together as their cages would allow, drawing comfort in knowing they weren't alone. Both wanted the car trip to end and yet, at the same time, were dreading whatever was in store for them.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours, they came to a stop. Helplessly, they were carried inside and into a small room filled with caged birds. Nico and Pedro drew back, both unhappily reminded of the smugglers van where they'd been held trying to rescue Jewel. Setting them down next to each other, the workers then turned around and left; leaving the room in semi-darkness.

Several of the birds around looked at the new arrivals: some in interest, some in apathy. However most of the birds didn't even seem to register the arrival of the newcomers. Lying thick over the whole place was a cold, hard despair. Nico felt an uneasiness settle over him, and glancing at Pedro told him that he could feel it too. "We've got to get out of here," he said.

"It's no use," a French Redstart across from them said. Her dull eyes stared at them, "No one ever escapes. So you might as well get used to it here."

"Thanks," Pedro put in, "But we don't plan on staying long."

"Yeah," Nico nodded, "Plus, we've got a friend looking for us. He'll find us."

The bird just shook her head, "People have looked before, and no one's ever been found."

"Yeah well, Rafael ain't just a someone," Pedro rebuked. "Trust me. You just need to have hope. He'll find us."

"Hope," The Redstart got a slightly wistful look. "It's not something we have had here. Not in a long time."


	5. Chapter 5: A shocking reality

The next morning Nico woke up with a start as the door clanged open. Looking around, his heart sank as he realised that their predicament hadn't been a dream. He glanced across at Pedro, only to see him wide awake and staring at the door. Nico wondered if he'd even gotten any sleep last night.

His thoughts were diverted, however, as the employee who had entered came over and picked up their two cages. He and Pedro shared a worried glance, wondering where they were being taken this time. Their unspoken question, however, was answered the next moment as they entered a different room. At the far end of the room sat a bird-sized stage, complete with lights and a sound system. Nico and Pedro could immediately guess what it was for.

The only other thing in the room was a table, where the choreographer, Martin, was standing. Upon the first look, it was pretty obvious that the cockatiel was Jarvis's brother. However, there were distinct differences. Jarvis had been smooth, well-groomed and friendly. Martin, however, had ruffled, uncared for feathers; a scowl sat permanently on his face; and stretching along the centre of his face and through his right eye, was a long, gruesome scar.

He grunted at the workman to set the two birds down. Then, surprisingly, he unlocked Pedro's cage. Before the cardinal could react to this turn of events, the human reached in and grabbed him. Pulling him out, the employee attached a small metal device around his foot.

Once that was done, Martin addressed him in a gruff voice, "Now, we're going to release you. However, before you get any big ideas, you should know that that device around your foot is a shock bracelet capable of releasing an excessive amount of electricity through your body. You try and leave this building on your own and the bracelet will trigger. Trust me, you won't get very far and it'll hurt – a lot."

Carefully, the human placed Pedro down on the table before repeating the action with Nico. Once the two of them were standing on the table, Martin began talking again, "Now, here's the deal: the two of you will practise with me every morning until your performance or until I think you're good enough. You will put all your effort into these practises and you will not complain. If either of you do not comply, an adequate shock will be your punishment until you do. Got it?"

Nico crossed his wings, "And if we still don't comply?"

"Yeah," Pedro took a step forward. "I'm not afraid of a little pain."

Martin's expression didn't change. Instead he pressed a small button beside him.

With a gasp Nico fell to the ground, writhing with pain as several thousand volts coursed through him. At his screams Pedro turned to Martin, "Okay. We'll comply. Just please stop! You're hurting him."

Satisfied, the cockatiel let go and Nico slumped to the ground with a sigh of relief. Pedro was at his side immediately. "Are you okay?" he asked as he helped Nico up.

"Yeah," the canary reassured him, "but let's just say, I don't want to do that again."

"Many of the groups we've found perform more efficiently when the others are threatened. Therefore, if either of you don't comply with my commands, then the other one will get the punishment. I trust there will be no more complaints?"

"Alright," the two of them nodded. Pedro however, narrowed his eyes, "But when we get out of here, you will pay for what you did."

Martin simply looked at him. "No one gets out of WIM," he said in a dead voice. "Now, let us begin practise."

* * *

Rafael landed outside Nico and Pedro's hollow, however, upon seeing no movement inside, he sighed: looks like he'd have to wake the two night-owls up again. When he got inside though, he paused. No one was there. In fact, Nico and Pedro's nests didn't even look slept in. Rafael felt a twinge of unease creep up on him but he pushed it down. No use jumping to conclusions yet. Instead he decided to go looking for them. He knew Nico and Pedro: if they weren't asleep, they were at the beach or the Branch.

The trip to the beach was quick and upon arrival he spotted two familiar faces. Not the two he was looking for however.

"Hey Rafi," Blu and Jewel greeted him as he landed.

"Hey," he replied with a small smile. "You two haven't seen Nico and Pedro this morning have you?"

"You mean they weren't asleep? Will wonders never cease?" Jewel smiled jokingly.

Rafael, however, didn't smile.

Seeing how serious the toucan was Blu replied, "No we haven't seen them. We've been at the beach all morning, so I can tell you they're not here at all. Are you okay Rafael? You look a little worried."

Rafael sighed, "I guess I'm just worried about the two of them."

"Hey," Jewel reassured him, "Just because Nico and Pedro aren't in their nests at this time, doesn't mean something's wrong."

"I know. I just have a bad feeling about it that I can't seem to shake."

"Well," Blu asked logically, "Have you checked the Branch?"

"No. I was going to check there next," Rafael told them.

"Then you really don't have much to worry about yet," Jewel stated. "But if it'll make you feel better, Blu and I can help you find them."

Blu nodded.

Rafael smiled, "Thanks amigos."

The three birds arrived to find the Branch as packed and upbeat as normal. They spread out through the crowd to see if they could spot any sign of their missing friends.

After a quick scan of the crowd, Rafael spotted Kipo and immediately flew over to him.

The Rosabill greeted his friend with a nod. "Hey Rafi, haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

"I'm good. How about you? How's the club going?"

Kipo made a face, "It's been a little disorganised at the moment. But nothing I can't handle."

Rafael nodded, "Well I hope things smoothen out soon. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you. You haven't seen Nico and Pedro at all today have you?"

Kipo shook his head. "Sorry no. They haven't been here at all, and I can tell you that because I've been keeping an eye out for them. They're supposed to be performing a new song today, but they haven't shown up yet."

"I've been looking for them all morning," Rafael frowned.

"Well, tell you what," Kipo put a wing on Rafi's shoulder. "If they turn up here I'll let you know. After I've lectured them on punctuality first, of course."

Rafael smiled, "Been there, done that; still waiting for it to work. Thanks Kipo."

"No problem," Kipo called as Rafael flew off.

Regrouping at the front of the Branch, Rafael repeated to Blu and Jewel what Kipo had said.

Jewel nodded, "We didn't see a sign of them either."

"Well," Blu asked. "Where do we look now?"

Rafael narrowed his eyes, "There is one place I want to check out. The one that I think is causing my worry. Come on."

Blu and Jewel exchanged a quick look before following Rafi as he flew off.

Catching up to the Toucan, Jewel said, "So, may I ask why and where we are going?"

Rafael, his face grim, answered, "The old school on the west side. Nico and Pedro had an audition there yesterday for WIM."

Jewel's mouth opened in surprise. Blu however was still confused. "WIM?" he asked.

"Winged International Music," Jewel explained. "They're a group that bring music around the globe to birds. Very famous, but they also have some bad rumours surrounding them. I've always passed it off as the result of jealous birds but I can understand why Rafael's a little worried now."

"So he's worried about some bad rumours?" Blu asked.

"No," Jewel corrected him, "He's worried they might be true."

* * *

Rafael landed on a table in one of the many rooms of the school and sighed. Like the name suggested: the old school was just that – abandoned. Sure there were signs that someone had been there recently, but nothing suspicious. Not that it was easy to tell as the people hadn't even been around long enough to dispel the layer of dust over the top of everything.

Curiously, Rafael studied the two strange box shaped imprints left in the dust on the table. As he was doing so, Jewel and Blu flew into the room.

"Okay Rafael, we've checked this place top to bottom. Nothing's here."

"What do you think these are from?" Rafael asked, apparently not hearing Jewel before.

With an eye roll Jewel hopped up onto the table to see what he was talking about. "Those are probably from some crates or something sitting on the table."

"Guys," Blu asked with a sniff. Apparently the Spix Macaw was allergic to dust, "Can we get out of here, please? Ah-ah-ah-chooo!" His sneeze was so strong that he was sent backwards into the bin behind him, causing both to fall over. "Ugh," he mumbled. "I hate dust."

After a sympathetic look at her husband, Jewel turned back to Rafael, intent on talking some sense into him. However she couldn't even gain the Toucan's attention as he was transfixed by something in the trash. Jewel paused at the look of confusion and dread in his eyes and watched curiously as he flew down and picked up the object, before showing it to the other two. Both Blu and Jewel's hearts stopped as they recognised the distinct blue and green patterned bottle cap. Nico's bottled cap. Unfortunately, all three of them knew it was his most prized possession. There was no way it would have ended up in the trash without something bad happening to the Canary.

All of a sudden, the imprints on the table had a new meaning. "Okay," Blu stated. "I'm starting to agree with Rafi. I think something's happened to Pedro and Nico."

The next moment Jewel gasped as she found something that previously the dust had hidden. "Guys, you better have a look at this."

The other two flew up to the table to see the long claw marks Jewel had found.

Exchanging looks, Rafael spoke what was on everyone's mind, "Cat."

* * *

Nico and Pedro were exhausted by the time they had finished their training session. Both lay sprawled on their backs as they were carried back to the storage room.

"Are you okay?" the Black Redstart asked once their cages were set down. She was a relatively small bird, slightly larger than Pedro and Nico. Her feathers varied in colour, with a dark, dark blue crest and back and black face feathers. Her chest feathers were a light grey, while the underside of her tail was a bright red.

"Define okay," Pedro gasped, gulping in as much air as possible.

"Yeah, I'll be right," Nico puffed. "As soon as I get my breath back. Ugh." He turned over onto his stomach, resting his head on the cool metal, "That was the hardest practise session I've ever done in my life."

The redstart nodded. "They are quite hard, but you get used to them."

"Used to them?' Pedro sat up. "Why do we need to practise so much in the first place?"

"For the performances." She replied.

"Performances?" Nico raised his head.

"We perform at every new place we go and the audience pay to watch."

"How come I've never heard about this?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, and what right minded bird would pay for entry?" Pedro added.

"I didn't say birds," the Redstart said, causing Nico and Pedro to pause. "The performances are underground operations and the normal customers are the more shady and untalented species. The types you usually don't see at the bird clubs: animals like monkeys, snakes and rats. Opportunities to see actual talent for them is quite rare and they're usually more than willing to steal goods to come watch us."

Nico sighed, "I guess that explains why the whole operation is so advanced; they make money out of it."

"Quite a bit too," the French bird added. "Plus, not only do they get money from us, but I hear that Jarvis helps Arthur out with his business illegally; finding information he shouldn't have to gain an advantage. Between the two things they're quite well off."

"They would do all this for greed?" Nico asked, gesturing all around him.

The bird just shrugged, "Unfortunately some birds are just like that."

"Okay, one question I've got to ask," Pedro broke in. "How on earth have they been able to get away with this for so long?"

"By being really efficient and well thought out; and by keeping the secret of WIM's real motives to a minimum number of birds. Even the birds that host the WIM festivals don't know about the covert operation. They truly believe that the videos they get are filmed by free birds and not from underground performances. They travel the world under the same story Jarvis would have told you originally. And since they believe that, so does everyone else. The actual operation travels after the festival, using it for two reasons: one, to provide a legitimate cover story, and two, to provide publicity. They come exactly a year later, thus ensuring that they are well know when they come, but since by that time the hype has gone down they can also work without much attention and no one can link them to the disappearances."

Pedro sighed, "I still can't believe we bought that pack of lies. Seriously, 'Travel is only optional' my foot."

"No travel is only optional. However, the alternative is much worse," the Redstart told them sombrely, "You see, WIM only want the best; and the best way to decide that is to see if the audience likes you. If not, you're gone."

"Wait," Nico asked confused. "I thought you said that no one gets out?"

"They don't," she looked at them pointedly. "If they don't like you, you're gone. Gone for good."

Pedro's eyes widened, "You mean they kill you?"

* * *

**Please, I would love a review :)**


	6. Chapter 6: What hope?

**Author's note: Hello again. Sorry, this is only a short chapter and it's quite cheesy, I'll try to make the next one longer. Thank you so much to Apple-chan and AlaskaForever, you are my first reviewers and you really made my day :D! Seriously, I was doing the happy dance all morning.**

**Apple-chan: Thanks :) I'm glad you like it. And I hope you don't mind that the drama will probably rise more.**

**AlaskaForever: I'm glad you're enjoying my story. I really wanted to develop Rafael's character a little more, so you will see a little more of the protective side of him. And WIM does have a tight grip on Nico and Pedro, but they're not going to give up that easily. As for Martin and Shadow... well, you'll just have to find out ;) (I love writing their characters, it's so much fun).**

**Also, the song in this chapter is Believe Again by Delta Goodrem. Enjoy :).**

* * *

Silence ensued after the gruesome revelations. No one really wanted to dwell on the reality of their situation, and Nico and Pedro were still having trouble processing the news. For the first time they realised how dire their situation was.

"By the way," the Redstart brought them out of their musings. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Isobelle."

"Pedro," the Cardinal nodded.

"And I'm Nico," the Canary addressed her.

She nodded, "Nice to meet you."

"So Isobelle," Nico asked, trying to keep the conversation up, "When were you taken?"

She sighed, "I was taken from Paris last year."

"You've been trapped here for that long?" Pedro asked shocked.

"Some have been around longer," the Redstart shrugged. "The Chinese Warbler beside you has been here for five years and I believe there is a Jabiru from Australia who has been here for ten years. However, here we consider you lucky if you've been around for a long time. Most birds don't even make it that long."

Wanting to steer clear of that topic, Nico asked, "So what was Paris like?"

A soft expression crossed Isobelle's face, "Paris was beautiful. I lived there with my Mama and my twin sister Marie. It was such a romantic city; so picturesque. Even the birds were romantic. The boys would sit in the trees outside the girls' hollows and sing love songs to them. And then the girls would let the boys know that they'd have to do better than a song to get them. So they'd court you instead. And our club was amazing. The Nest, we called it. And it was situated on the top level of the Eiffel Tower. I remember the view from there was amazing. Me and my sister would sing there all the time." She sighed.

"It sounds beautiful," Nico commented.

"It was. I miss it so much," she brightened slightly. "What about you? What's Rio like?"

"Rio's amazing!" Pedro commented, excited by the topic. "It's the city of samba and the party capital of the world."

"There's music and dancing everywhere," Nico added enthusiastically.

"And the clubs are the bomb," Pedro took over.

"Not to mention the beach is awesome. And some of the tourist destinations are breathtaking."

"And the food is incredible! Not to mention the hot wings," Pedro winked.

"Rio in general is just great. I truly wouldn't want to live anywhere else," Nico completed.

"It sounds amazing," Isobelle smiled.

"Tell you what," Pedro offered, "when we get out. We'll show you round: give you a proper tour of Rio de Janeiro."

The Redstart shook her head, "It will never happen. No one gets out."

"Why are you birds so ready to believe that?" Pedro asked exasperatedly.

"Because, as I've told you, birds have looked for us before but no one has ever been found. Our captors are just too good."

"And as we've told you," Nico retorted, "Rafael isn't just any bird. He knows everyone in Rio. And if he's looking for us or WIM then so is every other bird."

"Yeah," Pedro agreed. "He is the ultimate bird at hide and go seek." He got a rueful grin, "Something we found out the hard way when he used to babysit us when we were little."

Nico chuckled and nodded, "If there's any bird who can find us now, it's Rafi."

Isobelle just looked at them perplexed. "How can you two have so much hope in your friend?"

Nico shrugged, "Without hope what is there?"

"Hope is what gets you through days like this," Pedro continued. "Hope is what makes life enjoyable. Without it life becomes a burden, and no one deserves to live a life like that."

"So will you try to trust us; and have a little hope?" Nico questioned. "You'd be surprised by what it does."

Isobelle looked at them uncertainly.

"It won't last." Nico and Pedro turned to the Warbler in the cage next to Nico's. With a scowl fixed on his face he continued, "Your hope won't last. It never does. This place just smothers it."

Pedro scowled back at him, "Maybe that's true. But that isn't going to stop me from hoping now. And you want to know the funny thing about hope? It's contagious. So if you _do_ lose hope, there's always someone else to bring it back."

"Things will work out, you'll see," Nico told him.

"Hmph," the warbler's scowl deepened and he turned his back on them.

* * *

Rafael, Blu and Jewel had spent the rest of the day searching inside and outside the school, looking for any sign of their missing friends or at least something to tell them where they might be. However, their search found nothing, and they had no more information on their friends then they had had that morning. The only things they had were the bottle cap and the growing worry that their friends were in serious danger.

Jewel sighed as she glanced at the steadily darkening sky. "It's getting late. We should probably go home and get some rest. Start again early in the morning."

Blu nodded, "Maybe we could get Luiz to help tomorrow. With that nose of his he could probably sniff them out."

"That's a really good idea Blu," Jewel praised him, causing the Macaw to blush. "We'll drop by the garage tomorrow morning." She turned and looked sympathetically at Rafael. "You need to go home to Eva. She'll be worried if you don't come back."

He sighed, "Yeah I know, I'm just…worried about them."

"Hey it's okay," Jewel put her wing on his shoulder. "We'll find them. And I'm sure Nico and Pedro know that too."

* * *

Pedro looked around the darkened room. It was late at night so most of the birds around him were asleep. Even Nico had fallen asleep earlier, but Pedro still found himself wide awake, despite the fact he hadn't slept since they'd been captured. Truth be told, even though he knew that Rafi was going to find them he was still scared. Scared about what was going to happen to him and Nico in the meantime. This was no picnic. In fact, the two of them were in grave danger; a danger that would grow the longer they were here.

"Hey, are you guys awake?" Pedro was brought out of his thoughts by Isobelle.

"I am. Nico's asleep however."

She nodded, "I wanted to thank you both. What you said today was inspiring. And I just wanted to let you know that I believe you. And not just me, other birds in here are starting to believe again too. We're indebted to you because, for the first time, this place has hope."

Pedro just shrugged, "We just wanted to stop the negativity. I didn't think it would affect you all that much."

Isobelle shook her head, "You don't understand do you? Have you ever had overwhelming despair fall on you?"

Pedro recalled when they'd almost been flown out of Rio by smugglers and the awful hopelessness he'd felt then. It was after that that he and Nico had decided to value hope and to hold on to it as long as possible. They had never wanted to feel that overwhelming despair again.

"Well just imagine that for years on end," Isobelle continued. "And then, someone comes along and breaks that despair. It is the most amazing feeling in the world." She paused and then softly sang, _"Have you ever stared into the rain?_

_Thought the clouds would never disappear._

_Have you ever screamed out into the dark,_

_Thinking no one else could hear?_

_I was leaving footprints, tainted by my past._

_On this windy road through, ooh."_

As she continued to sing, another bird close by joined in, adding a harmony to the chorus.

"_I lost my faith in life. Tonight I believe again._

_My heart was a broken place. And now I feel whole again._

_And you bring me honesty. And that's worth believing in._

_And I believe, I believe again._

_Have you ever spun out of control?_

_Like you never saw the road ahead._

_Have you ever just kept looking back, ooh,_

_Ever closer to the edge?_

_I was praying for the light, I see in your eyes._

_I had all but given up, oooh oh._

_I lost my faith in life. Tonight I believe again._

_My heart was a broken place. And now I feel whole again._

_And you bring me honesty. And that's worth believing in._

_And I believe, I believe again._

_Oooohh, ooh."_

The bird that had started singing with her began to sing, "I believe the impossible is possible to overcome."

"_Oooh."_

"I believe in miracles. Born from love in everyone."

"_Oooh oooh."_

"I believe the impossible is possible to overcome," as she sang some of the other birds gradually joined her; building the phrases up into almost a chant.

"_Ooh, oohoh."_

"I believe in miracles. Born from love in everyone."

"I lost my faith in life," several birds took up the chorus as Isobelle accompanied over the top and the rest of the surrounding birds kept up the chant.

"_I lost my faith in life."_

"Tonight I believe again."

"_Tonight I believe again."_

"My heart was a broken place. And now I feel whole again."

"_I feel whole again."_

"And you bring me honesty."

"_Oooh ooh."_

"And that's worth believing in."

"_Ooohhh."_

"And I believe."

"_I believe, again."_

"I believe again."

"_Believe aga-ain, ooh."_ Isobelle trailed off, leaving the room in silence. Beside Pedro, Nico stirred slightly, surprisingly not being woken by the music. Isobelle turned to them, tears shining in her eyes. "Thank you. Thank you both for bringing back our hope."

* * *

**Please let me know what you think :)**


	7. Chapter 7: Slight complications

**Author's note: Next chapter :). I really like this one.**

**AlaskaForever: Aw, thanks. I'm glad you found it inspiring. I thought it was going to come off cheesy. In fact, this whole story is starting to become a little bit soap opera-y. But I don't mind, it's fun to write :P**

**Apple-chan: Haha, more drama coming right up ;)**

**Enjoy**

* * *

Nico woke up the next morning with a slight headache. Looking around he allowed his still foggy mind to wake up. Sitting up, he was surprised to find that he left wing was stiff and slightly numb. Looking at it though, it looked completely fine, so he just shrugged it off as having slept on it. Working his wing he returned the blood flow to it and the stiffness disappeared.

"Are you okay?" Nico turned, surprised to find that the one talking to him was the pessimistic Warbler from the day before. He was a tiny bird; short and stout with light brown feathers and the occasional yellow streak.

"I'm fine," Nico told him.

"Are you sure?" The Warbler pressed.

"Yes." Nico answered shortly.

"What about your wing?"

"My wing's fine," Nico told him. "I just slept on it."

That didn't seem to stop the Warbler however; he just raised an eye brow and asked, "Have you had any injuries there recently?"

Nico's eyes flicked briefly to the small scar halfway up his wing from the cat. However, since his mind was starting to get irritated by all the questions so early in the morning he simply snapped, "Listen bird."

The Warbler scowled, "My name is Xiao Ming."

"Ming then," Nico continued. "Why are you so concerned about my health when you think we're fools for hoping?"

Ming's scowl deepened. "Hmph," he said, turning his back on Nico.

"Crazy bird," Nico muttered under his breath.

Right on time, the door at the other end of the room opened and a workman entered, heading straight for Nico and Pedro.

_Time for practise again,_ Nico thought and unconsciously his foot brushed up against the shock bracelet on his foot. Hopefully neither of them would give Martin a reason to use them today.

Pedro looked across at him and gave him a small smile, which Nico returned.

As they were picked up, Pedro's cage was brought near Ming's and the Chinese Warbler used the chance to lean close and whisper, "Keep a close eye on your friend's wing."

Pedro looked at him confused, "His wing? Why?'

"Just do it. You'll see."

And with that, they were swept out of the room.

* * *

Rafael, Jewel and Blu landed outside of Luiz's garage early in the morning.

"Luiz!"

"Luiz!" Blu and Jewel called upon entry. There was no sign of the Bulldog however.

"Maybe he's not home," Jewel commented.

"Or maybe he's still asleep." Blu shrugged.

Rafael however, picked up a buzzing sound in the background. "No he's here. He's working. Yo Luiz!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

The buzzing sound stopped and the next second Luiz rounded the corner. "Hey Rafi!" He shouted running up to the Toucan. He gave him a hug, in the process covering him in drool.

"Hey Blu," he greeted the Macaw next and before Blu could protest, he too was covered in slobber from the friendly dog's hug.

"Ugh gross." Blu mumbled.

Luiz turned to greet Jewel in the same manner too but she stopped him, "Thanks Luiz but I had a bath this morning. I'd like to stay clean for at least an hour."

Luiz shrugged, "Suit yourself. So," he addressed them all, "What brings you here so early this fine morning?"

Rafael got down to business, "Well actually Luiz, we need a favour."

"Oh no," the Bulldog told him. "I'm not doing you anymore favours Rafael. Last time I did, I ended up on a hang-glider."

"Aw, it wasn't that bad."

Luiz whined, "Says you: you can fly. I can't. There was nothing between me and the ground but 6,000 feet of air!"

Rafael chuckled ruefully, "That was one occasion, I never-"

Luiz cut him off, "And the time before that, I almost ended up with all my fur shaved off."

"Well-" Rafael started, but Luiz wasn't finished.

"And the time before that, your kids almost drowned me. In my own water bowl! No Rafi: I ain't doing no more favours."

"Oh come on," Rafael said exasperated, "How many times has something actually gone really bad?"

"Seventeen," Luiz deadpanned.

Rafael rubbed his chin, "My last count was sixteen."

"Carnival: two years ago."

"Hey," Rafael turned to him indignantly, "It was not my fault you ended up on that gator float."

"Guys!" Jewel broke up the weird fight. "Luiz please," she turned to him, "We _really _need your help."

Luiz looked at their serious faces and sighed. "Alright. I'll listen. But I better not end up in the air again."

"You won't," Rafael promised. He shared a quick glance with Blu and Jewel before showing Luiz the bottle cap.

Luiz sniffed it before looking at them confused. "It's Nico's."

The three birds felt their hearts sink as Luiz completely confirmed what they'd already believed.

"We found that in a trash can in the abandoned school where Nico and Pedro had an audition for WIM the day before yesterday," Rafael explained softly. "They've been missing ever since. And we believe they're in danger."

Luiz stood up abruptly, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go."

Blu nodded, "We thought we'd start at the abandoned school, since we know they were there last. If you can pick up their scent from there we can probably trace it to them."

"Don't worry, you can count on me," Luiz saluted. "Sniffing is one of my specialties."

"Then let's go," Jewel called, taking off.

* * *

Practise the second day was much easier, Pedro decided. Not only were the steps easier to pick up, the two birds found they could keep up much better too.

The longer they spent practising, the more Pedro was able to pick up about Martin too. Surprisingly, he had found that their new instructor had a particular love of music. It showed in the slight softening he got on his hardened features as he showed them a dance step or a verse. He also seemed quite happy with the progress Nico and Pedro had made, and therefore had found no reason to use the shock bracelets; something Pedro was extremely grateful for. He definitely didn't want to experience the high voltage coursing through him, let alone having to watch Nico go through that again.

However, that had only eased his worries slightly. He had followed the Yellow-Streaked Warbler's obscure instruction and had watched Nico carefully. This had only increased his worry as something seemed to be wrong with his left wing: firstly, he didn't seem to be using it as much as normal, and when he did, the movements were delayed. This was quite odd considering that his left wing was usually his dominant one. But probably the most surprising and most worrying sign was the fact that Nico didn't even seem to notice; he wasn't even aware of it hanging limply by his side now as they rested.

Pedro's attention was diverted the next moment as Martin approached them. He nodded approvingly at them, "Practise is over for today. You two have done good. There is therefore no need for practise tomorrow morning." His face hardened as he continued. "Tomorrow night however, is your first performance and I expect it to be your best work. I'm not sure how much you've heard but let me assure you that if you stuff up _that_ particular section, you'll be punished with more than a measly electric shock. Are we clear?"

Nico and Pedro nodded.

"You're dismissed." And with that the employee came and placed Nico and Pedro back in their cages. It took all of Pedro's self-control to not struggle against him. He and Nico both knew from last time that that was a bad idea.

As they were being carried back, Pedro turned to Nico, "Are you alright?" he asked.

Nico looked at him surprised, "I'm fine."

"What about your wing?"

Nico eyed him exasperated, "You've been talking to that crazy Chinese Warbler haven't you?" Nico flapped his wing in emphasis, "See, it's fine. I just slept on it last night is all."

Pedro shook his head with a solemn expression, "No you didn't. You slept on your right side."

With that, Nico's patience broke and he snapped, "Would you just drop the stupid wing? I'm fine! Now stop asking!"

Pedro took a step back and his beak fell open in shock and hurt. Never had his brother yelled at him like that before. Normally he was the one with a shorter temper, Nico was usually the calm one between them.

Seeing Pedro's face, Nico sighed and rubbed his temples. "Sorry Pedro. I didn't mean to snap. It's just, I've had a headache all day and that added to the stress and the worry. It's just getting to me."

"Don't worry about it," Pedro smiled. A heavy silence descended on them and Pedro couldn't help but plead silently, _Please Rafi: hurry._

* * *

Rafael, Blu and Jewel waited anxiously in the room where they'd found Nico's bottle cap as Luiz sniffed around the table top. "They were most definitely here," Luiz nodded at the two indents in the dust. "Their scent is quite strong. I can also smell," he sniffed a little, "rust, so there was definitely something metal here. There was also another bird, humans and," he let out a growl, "a cat."

Blu let out an exasperated sigh, "The most we find on Pedro and Nico's situation, the worse off they seem to be."

"It just means we have to find them faster," Rafael said. He turned to Luiz hopefully, "Can you follow their scent?"

Luiz let out a soft whine, "No. Their most recent scent is here, after that, it's swallowed up by the smell of human."

"Can you follow anything else?" Jewel asked.

"I can't follow the humans; their scent just becomes drowned out by all the car smells and the like. However," Luiz turned to them with a smile, "I can follow the cat's scent."

Luiz and the birds followed the cat's scent out into the city. However, due to the time they'd taken getting to the abandoned school and the time Luiz had spent searching it with his nose, they hadn't gotten very far before it was too dark to even see down the alleys they were walking.

Luiz let out a mournful whine before turning to the others, "Better call it a night."

Rafael sighed, "Two days gone and still no sign of them."

"We need a better strategy," Blu mused. "At the moment we need to cover more ground. Maybe we should split up tomorrow: one bird going with Luiz after the cat's scent and the other going with Rafael to the clubs."

"Why the clubs?" Jewel asked.

"Well I was thinking about this today," Blu explained. "What if we've been thinking about this the wrong way. Instead of trying to find Nico and Pedro, maybe we should be trying to find the bird that took them in the first place."

"The talent scout," Rafael realised. "Of course." His eyes narrowed, "I'm definitely looking forward to having a word with him."

"Then it's settled then," Luiz hopped in. "Blu can come with me and Jewel can go with Rafael." He yawned. "Now I think I'll call it a night. All this walking has me pooped. See you tomorrow morning Blu." And with that he trotted off.

* * *

Pedro sat worriedly in his cage, mulling over the situation today. As his thoughts turned in circles, he glanced across to where Nico was asleep and sighed. Things were beginning to get more complicated and Pedro wasn't sure if he was going to be able to cope. He was worried enough about what might happen to them, he didn't want to worry about Nico's health too. But he knew something was wrong, even if Nico didn't want to admit it. And he was scared it was just going to get worse. Pedro sighed, if he was completely honest with himself, Nico's health wasn't the only one he had to worry about. It had been over two days since Pedro had slept and he still didn't feel tired. He knew he needed to get some sleep soon or he would crash, probably at the worst time too. That would only make his and Nico's situation worse. But no matter how he tried, sleep just wouldn't come.

"Are you okay?" Pedro, pulled out of his musings, glanced across at Isobelle.

He just shrugged, glancing across at Nico as he did.

Isobelle caught the movement and her face softened, "You care about him a lot don't you?"

Pedro just looked at her, "Of course, he's my brother."

"Brother?" Isobelle asked confused.

Pedro turned away uncomfortably, "It's a long story."

Isobelle shrugged, "We've got plenty of time."

Pedro turned back with a harder expression, "I don't want to talk about it." He sighed, "It's complicated, unpleasant and truthfully, not really mine to tell. In fact, many of the birds in Rio don't know about the event. The only ones who know are our good friends and those who were there when it happened. So please, can you just drop it?"

"If that's what you want." And with that, she left Pedro to his thoughts again.


	8. Chapter 8: The chase begins

**Author's note: Alright, new chapter is up. :) I really like this one even if the characters are slightly OOC (Sorry about that).**

**AlaskaForever: He might ;)... eventually. And yeah, Nico's wing is something to worry about.**

**Apple-chan: Well, I'm hoping I made it interesting, though it is a little sad. **

**Thank you both :) Your reviews are always awesome! Enjoy.**

* * *

Jewel landed outside of Rafael's hollow a little after the morning rays broke through the tree canopy. After an anxious glance around, she called, "Hey Rafael, it's me Jewel."

The next moment Rafael's head popped out of the hollow. "Hey Jewel."

"Are your kids," Jewel started to ask.

"They're all asleep," Rafael gestured behind him. Jewel looked past him to see numerous little black feathered bodies snuggled up against Eva.

Jewel's face softened, "Aw, when they're not trying to kill you, they're actually quite cute."

"Yeah," Rafael said proudly, "But we should get going, they'll be waking up soon."

Behind him Eva stirred and opened her eyes, "You going so soon."

Rafael nodded, giving her a quick kiss. "I have to keep looking."

She nodded, her eyes sad, "Good luck. I hope you find them soon."

And with that, the two birds took off.

Soon enough, they were outside the Branch. They entered and quickly found Kipo. Rafael was relieved to see that the Spoonbill was looking more laid back today. Obviously he'd gotten things back together with the club.

Flying up to him, Rafael asked slightly hopeful, "Please tell me you've seen some sign of Nico and Pedro."

Kipo shook his head. "I haven't seen head nor tail of them and neither has anyone else I've talked to. It's like they've just disappeared."

Rafael and Jewel exchanged looks. "We believe they've been captured," she told Kipo.

Kipo's eyes went wide, "Captured? By who? Smugglers?"

Rafael shook his head, "No. By Winged International Music."

Kipo's eyes narrowed as he put two and two together, "I knew that talent scout was bad news when I saw him. But I didn't know he was that bad. Are you sure he was with WIM?"

"Positive," Rafael told him. "Heard it from Nico and Pedro's own beaks; right before they went missing. You haven't seen him since then have you?"

Kipo shook his head with a sigh, "No. He hasn't been back here; something I've been grateful for. He's been seen at the other clubs though. I heard he was at Orange and Feathered Soul yesterday. You might want to check them out."

"Thanks Kipo," Rafael clasped his wing. "Let me know if Nico and Pedro somehow miraculously show up. And definitely let me know if you see the talent scout again. In fact, could you pass the word around? Let everyone know that Rafael is looking for the talent scout, but don't let him know I'm looking for him."

Kipo nodded. "Can do. Let me know if you find Pedro and Nico. I think we're all getting worried about them."

"Of course," Rafael looked across at Jewel. "Let's go. We've got a talent scout to catch." And with that they flew out of the club.

* * *

The next morning when Nico woke up, he felt worse than the day before. His headache was back, only twice as bad and now he was feeling a little sick in his stomach. Not to mention his whole left wing ached, especially around the cut halfway up his wing. Standing, he decided to test it out. However, when he moved his wing he had to clamp his beak shut to stop from crying out as pain shot through his wing. A small feeling of unease settled in the pit of his stomach. He knew something was wrong. He'd worked it out yesterday when his wing had first caught his attention. However, he'd just shrugged it off, desperately hoping that it was just nothing. He couldn't do that today though.

_As if we didn't have enough problems to deal with, _he thought. He didn't need anything else to worry about and he especially knew Pedro didn't need it. He wasn't getting any sleep as it was. With a small sigh Nico tested his wing again, hoping to diminish the pain. After all, he needed to be able to move his wing if he was going to be able to convince Pedro that nothing was wrong. Unfortunately that didn't seem to work as the pain that shot through his wing seemed worse than last time.

He let out a soft hiss of pain.

"How's your wing?" Ming asked him.

Nico gave a sigh, "Not good. It's worse than yesterday."

Ming raised an eyebrow at him, "So you're actually admitting that something's wrong now?"

Nico nodded, looking at him gravely, "I need help. That's why I'm admitting to you that it is hurt. But please: you can't tell Pedro."

"Can't tell me what?"

_Shoot,_ Nico thought. He plastered a smile on his beak as he turned to Pedro. "Hey Pedro, how'd you sleep?"

Pedro's expression didn't change but he did narrow his eyes. "Can't tell me what?" he repeated slowly.

"You know," Nico said, taking a step back. "You look like mum when you do that."

Pedro shrugged, "it was what I was going for. After all, the expression always worked for her."

Unfortunately it was true, and seeing the uncanny expression on his brother's face wasn't doing Nico much good. He'd always been the weaker one for the expression and even now, could feel his will crumbling upon scrutiny.

"You're not going to drop this are you?" He asked in one last desperate bid to get out of answering.

"Nope."

"Fine," Nico sighed. "I was telling Ming that I'm worried about my wing."

Pedro's face changed to worry instantly. "Are you hurt? I knew there was something wrong. What's wrong? What happened? Why didn't you tell me sooner? When did it start?" questions flowed out of the Cardinal's mouth.

"And this is why I didn't want to tell you," Nico stated bluntly. "I didn't want you to worry about it. You've got enough to worry about already."

Pedro glared at him, "I'm a big bird Nico, I can handle it."

"So am I," Nico glared back. "So let me handle it. I don't need you to mollycoddle me. And I certainly don't need you overly worried about me."

Pedro didn't budge, "You're my little brother. I'm allowed to worry as much as I want about you."

"Not when it's stopping you from sleeping."

Pedro's eyes widened and he took a step back. "You know about that?" he asked softly.

Nico snorted, "I've lived with you almost my whole life. The only time you have ever been up before me is when you haven't gone to sleep at all." His expression softened, "Listen bro: I know you are worried about me and that you want to make sure I'm okay. But you can't neglect yourself in the process. And until you promise that you'll get some sleep tonight, I won't tell you anything about my wing."

Pedro looked indignant, "Now that's not fair."

Nico's expression didn't change.

"But I don't know if I'll actually fall asleep or not." Pedro tried again.

Still nothing.

"Alright," he gave in. "I promise I'll try my hardest to get some sleep tonight. Happy?"

"Yeap," Nico smiled.

"Now," Pedro asked him seriously, "What's wrong with your wing?"

"I don't actually know," Nico sighed. "All I know is that my wing hurts and that the pain really intensifies when I move it."

Pedro looked at him worriedly, "Does anything else hurt?"

Nico shook his head, "No. But I have a really bad headache and I feel slightly sick."

Pedro looked at him fearfully, "Are you going to be able to perform okay tonight?"

"I should be fine," Nico reassured him. "I know the routine well enough and very few steps actually require my left wing. Plus I'm hoping the adrenaline will blot out the pain."

"If you're sure," Pedro said. He looked like he was going to say something else but before he could, a silky voice purred from the doorway, sending shivers of fear down both of their spines.

"Hello birdies, I'm back. Did you miss me?"

"Shadow," the name ran as a whisper through every bird in the room.

Pedro and Nico glanced fearfully at each other, both hoping to blend in with the rest of the birds around. They had no such luck however, as Shadow padded over to their cages.

"My, if it isn't my new friends," she gave them a smile, revealing her sharp teeth. "You've settled in nicely. I hope you haven't tried any more escape attempts."

Nico and Pedro once more kept silent, causing Shadow to roll her eyes. "We're not going to do this again are we? Can't a cat get a decent conversation?"

Still nothing.

Shrugging she continued, "So I hear you have your big debut tonight. And yet, no practise today. Tsk tsk. We wouldn't what you to get out of shape before then. Perhaps you'd like a little exercise," she grinned, her bright green eyes focusing on Nico. The Canary froze, backing away with a quick glance at his wing.

Pedro noticed, before determinedly yelling, "Oi Shadow, why not pick on someone your own size."

She turned to him. "Alright, I'll pick on you. After all, you are a big bird." She approached his cage, eyeing him. "Though it seems you've lost some weight since we last met. A pity, wasting all that meat. It would be a shame if the rest of it went the same way. Almost makes me wish you'd escape."

Pedro's eyes widened as he realised where she was going. Quickly he tried to move as far away from her as possible. However, before he could get very far, Shadow's paw shot out and caught his leg.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked, holding him by his feet in the air. "I'm not finished with you yet."

Pedro struggled helplessly. "Hey!" he squawked at the top of his voice, "Let me go!"

Shadow completely ignored him, hungrily musing, "A couple of bites won't hurt. He'll still be able to sing and dance. No one will notice. Or, I could just say he was trying to escape."

Nico glanced around desperately, knowing that if he didn't do something soon he could very likely lose his best friend and older brother. Beside him, Pedro was still angrily squawking loudly and Shadow was slowly pulling Pedro closer and closer to her sharp teeth.

Just then, Nico's eyes landed on Shadow's tail, which lay right up and over his cage, and an idea shot through the Canary's mind. Without hesitation, he lunged forward and bit down as hard as he could on the black cat's tail.

* * *

**Suspense... :P. I'll be back next week.**


	9. Chapter 9: 1 step forward, 3 steps back

**Author's note: Okay so the song in this chapter is called Battle Scars by Guy Sebastian feat. Lupe Fiasco. Geeze, I think this is starting to become a muscial. Anyway,**

**Apple-chan: Thanks :) I love the thought of them being brothers so there's definitely more brotherly fluff coming :).**

**AlaskaForever: Yeah, Shadow is one of my favourites even if she is eviiill :D. And yes, go Pedro for standing up for Nico :)!**

**Thanks so much for the reviews! Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Shadow let out an agonised yowl, dropping Pedro. Nico saw him tumble to the bottom of his cage before Shadow's claw angrily swiped him. It caught him full in the chest, leaving three long scratches in its wake and causing the Canary to tumble with force into the back of his cage. Nico gasped as the pain in his wing flared up.

"You!" Shadow's smouldering eyes locked onto him. She turned to examine her tail. The tip of her tail dripped with blood and a patch of fur was missing near the top. "Look what you did to my tail!"

Nico met her hate-filled glare evenly, "You had it coming."

Her eyes narrowed.

"Hey!" A workman called from the doorway, probably investigating from Pedro's loud shouts before. "What are you doing Shadow? You know you aren't allowed in here. Leave the birds alone." He ran a hand through his hair. "Aw man," he muttered, "If any of those birds get hurt, Arthur will have my head." Louder he called. "Now get!"

Shadow turned back to Nico briefly, "Listen you pipsqueak. This is not over. You may be safe now but I _will_ get my revenge on you." Then she turned tail and left.

As the door clanged shut Nico turned to Pedro, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Pedro said softly. "Just a little shaken up." He let out a shuddering breath. "For a minute there I actually thought she was going to eat me."

"Yeah, me too," Nico replied.

Pedro turned to him worriedly. "So are you okay?"

Nico examined his chest, thankful to find that the cuts were only superficial. They had only cut through the surface, though they were going to leave visible scars for a while.

He smiled, "Yeah you know: apart from a couple of new battle scars and a cat with a vendetta against me I'm good."

The smile slid off his face as everything that had happened sank in. With a sob he sunk to the floor and covered his face in his wings. "No I'm not okay. I don't know if I can keep doing this Pedro. I'm trying, but things just seem to keep getting worse."

Pedro moved as close to Nico as his cage would allow and put his wing on Nico's shoulder. "I know how you feel bro." He sighed then, almost unbidden, words rose within him and he sang,

"**The wound heals but it never does. That's because you're at war with love. You're at war with love."**

As he stopped, Nico started to sing, his rich voice full of pain and sadness,

"_These battle scars don't look like they're fading, _

_Don't look like they're ever going away. _

_They ain't never gonna change, this battle."_

"**Yeah,"**Pedro rapped, **"Never let a wound ruin me. But it feels like ruins wooing me.**

**Arrow holes never close from cupid on a shooting spree.**

**Feeling stupid because it ain't no use to me.**

**But when you're trying to keep the nods up and when you're trying to beat the odds up,**

**And you know that you should go. But the fear of the unknown,**

**Holding another rhythm strong sends you back into the zone.**

**Waiting on friends to bring you home. A lover not a fighter on the front line with a poem.**

**Try to write yourself a rifle, maybe sharpen up a song**

**to fight the tanks and drones of you being alone."**

"_I wish I never looked," _ Nico sang, still laying at the bottom of his cage, _"I wish I never rushed._

_I wish I could stop loving music so much._

_But I'm the only one trying to keep it together, _

_when everyone else says that I should forget it._

_I wish it weren't the best, the best I ever had._

_I wish that the good outweighed the bad._

_But it'll never be over. They can't tell me it's over."_

With more vigour, he launched into the chorus again, _"These battle scars don't look like they're fading._

_Don't look like they're ever going away. _

_They ain't never gonna change, this battle."_

Pedro took over again, his voice as full of emotion, though a little bit softer, **"You shouldn't have but you said it. It shouldn't of happened but you let it.**

**And now you're down on the ground screaming medic. **

**The only thing that comes are the post traumatic stresses.**

**Shields, body armour and vests don't properly work, that's why you're in a locker full of hurt.**

**The enemy within and all the fire's on your friends.**

**The best medicine is to just let them win."**

"_I wish I couldn't feel. I wish I couldn't love._

_I wish that I could stop because it hurts so much._

_Well I'm the only one trying to keep it together,_

_When everyone else says that I should forget it._

_I wish it weren't the best, the best I ever had._

_I wish that the good outweighed the bad._

_But it'll never be over. They can't tell it's over._

_These battle scars don't look like they're fading, _

_Don't look like they're ever going away._

_They ain't never gonna change this battle."_

They paused, before Nico sang, _"Before they set me on fire, I never felt more alive yeah."_

"**Hope it heals but it never does, that's because you're at war with love."**

"_And I'm at the point of breaking, and nothing seems to shake it."_

"**Hoping wounds heal bit it never does, that's because you're at war with love. **

**Hope it heals but it never does, that's because you're at war with love."**

Nico once more launched into the chorus, _"These battle scars don't look like they're fading,_

_Don't look like they're ever going away._

_They ain't never gonna change._

_These battle scars don't look like they're fading,_

_Don't look like they're ever going away._

_They ain't never gonna change this battle."_

The room descended into a melancholy silence as their impromptu song finished.

"So that's it?" A gruff voice spoke out. "You're just going to give up because something scared you?" Nico and Pedro turned to look at Ming. "Whatever happened to not giving up hope? That things are going to be alright?" he continued almost accusingly.

"We still believe Rafi's going to find us, that hasn't changed," Pedro shot back. "But we're scared man. We've only been here three days and we've already been told that we'll be living in these cages for the rest of our lives, threatened with electrocution and death _and_ almost eaten by a cat. We're worried about what's going to happen to us before Rafi comes. Weren't you ever scared when you were taken?"

"Yes I was," Ming admitted. "But not for myself. I was scared that I was never going to see those I was taken from again. Eventually that fear died but what it was replaced with was much worse. Hopelessness. I no longer believed I would ever see them again. You see, it's alright to be scared. What you can't do is let that fear change who you are. And do not let it block your hope."

"I thought you didn't believe our friend was coming," Nico queried, causing the Warbler to raise an eyebrow.

"I still don't. And I think you're crazy for believing he will." He paused. "But I can see what your foolish hope has done for those around us. For once, life in here is almost worth living. And that I am willing to help preserve. So, for as long as we are here, I promise to help you two out; as long as you two keep the hope in here."

Nico and Pedro looked at him, shell shocked. "You would do that?" Nico asked.

Ming nodded.

Pedro ran a wing through his crest, "Is there anything we can do for you in return?"

"Unfortunately not," the Warbler sighed. "The only thing I want, you cannot give me."

"To return to those you were taken from," Nico realised.

"To return home to my family," Ming confirmed. His gaze drifted off into the distance, "I was taken from Xi'an in China, where I'd lived my entire life. I was a doctor. And it was through that that I met my wife. She was a beautiful bird from Europe named Anya, and had travelled round the world before meeting me and settling down. Together we had five kids: Milly, Shou Tian, Da li, Jimmy and Mei. Milly and Tian will be thirteen this year, Da li eleven and little Jimmy and Mei will only be seven." He sighed, and his face hardened, "Five years it's been since I was taken. Five years I've been stuck in this hell hole and all that time I have not been able to hold my wife or watch my kids grow and learn." He sighed again, looking down.

"You may be able to see them again soon," Nico said softly.

Ming looked at them, and for the first time his expression softened and he smiled. "We'll see."

* * *

Jewel let out a frustrated sigh as she and Rafael landed. "We've searched Orange, Winged Soul, the Clam Shell, Feathers, Cloudland, the Strand, _and _the Beach Ball," she ticked off her feathers, "and still no sign of him. How can one bird be so hard to find?"

Rafael shrugged, "When they're good at hiding. WIM wouldn't have been able to get away with this for so long without being really good at deception."

Jewel sighed, "I guess so. On the bright side, at least we've managed to spread word around."

"True." Rafael glanced at the lowering sun. "Unfortunately, there's nothing more we can do today. Let's go see if Luiz and Blu were any more successful."

Jewel and Rafael landed at the rendezvous point in time to meet Luiz and an exhausted Blu.

"Are you okay?" Jewel asked her mate. Blu held up one feather as he gasped for air.

"You guys find anything?" Luiz asked curiously.

Rafael shook his head, "We got several tips, several rumours and several sightings that led us on a giant goose chase all over Rio, but no bird."

"We did spread word around though. If Jarvis is seen, we should know about it," Jewel said.

Rafael looked at Luiz, "What about you? Did you get anywhere with the cat?"

Blu, who had finally gotten his breath back, started indignantly, "Following that cat's trail, I ended up climbing seven trees, searching twenty rooftops and crawling under eleven houses. We got yelled at thirty-six times and drenched twice. I had to help Luiz over eight fences and have been covered in things that I don't even want to think about. And after all that, we lost its trail on the main highway through Ipanema." With a humph, he fell backwards. "I am never doing that again."

Luiz nodded, "We also found several dead mice, but thankfully no birds."

"So that's it?" Jewel asked. "We're back at square one again."

"Why does that seem to be becoming a pattern?" Blu asked.

"Well there's got to be a reason these guys haven't been caught yet," Luiz pointed out.

"Which is what I said," Rafael replied heavily. Gazing at the setting sun, he continued, "I've got to go. I promised Eva I'd be home for dinner."

"See you tomorrow Rafi," Jewel called. Rafael, however, didn't answer.

* * *

Pedro paced nervously inside his cage. It was time for their first performance and all the birds were being held backstage at their unknown location.

He glanced across at Nico, noting that he already looked exhausted despite the fact that they hadn't even started yet. This caused Pedro's already high stress to rocket to new levels. Worries ran through he headlike unruly chicks. _What if they got it wrong? What it Nico couldn't keep up? What if the crowd didn't like them? _Pedro didn't even want to think about the answers.

He took a deep breath, trying to settle his nerves and focusing on the slit in the curtain. Beyond it he could see some of the audience members. Some of the shady characters visible made Pedro, for the first time, feel safe to be in a cage. Cats, rats, monkeys and several other creatures Pedro didn't want to run into on a daily basis littered the section he could see.

One at a time, the birds around them were taken to perform. They did not return. Either they were taken back to the storage room or- Pedro cut himself off there. Before she was taken to perform, Isobelle had smiled and wished them luck. Even Xiao Ming had grudgingly given them reassurance as he was taken.

As time went by, the cages around them dwindled. Then, after what seemed like eternity, they were picked up and carried towards the stage. Pedro felt his adrenaline start to kick in and quickly glanced at Nico, giving him a tight grin.

Let out of their cages, they fluttered over to their starting positions. The next second the light came on and the music started.

* * *

The rest of the performance was a blur for Pedro. The next thing that registered in his brain was the fact that the crowd was cheering for them. In fact, cheering would be an understatement: the crowd was going ballistic, having loved the performance. Pedro sat stunned, the actual fact not sinking in as the curtains closed and they were placed back in their cages. Then, all at once, it hit him. The audience had loved them. They were safe. Relief flooded through the Cardinal.

"Woohoo!" he shouted. "We're alright. We're not going to die. Nico, isn't it amazing?"

He paused when he didn't get a reply, before turning to the cage next to him. Nico stood glassy eyed and pale, trembling in exhaustion. His good wing clutched his left and he was biting his beak to stop himself crying out from the excruciating pain.

"Nico?" Pedro asked almost fearfully, "Speak to me bro. What's wrong?"

Again he got no answer. Then, all of a sudden, Nico's eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground of his cage unconscious.

Cold, hard fear hit Pedro like a wave of icy water.

"Nico!"

* * *

**Okay, so I know that this chapter is kinda cliche at points but I liked it. :). Anyway, I know I'm horrible for having the cliff hanger but I will be back next week. Good bye until then :).**


	10. Chapter 10: Hitting rock bottom

**Author's note: So the song in this chapter is Lullaby by Nickelback. I'm not completely happy with this chapter but it'll have to do cause I don't think I can fix it up anymore.**

**Apple-chan: Thanks (as much as I don't want you to panic) I'm glad that my story is good enough that you're worried about what going to happen :) (I figured as much, being 'anon' is pretty cool.).**

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

Rafael was woken up early the next morning by a couple of his chicks.

"Daddy?"

Rafael blurrily opened his eyes, "Yes Sophia?"

"Where are you going every day?" The young chick asked him.

Rafael, waking up a little more fully turned to her, "Why, of all times, do you need to know that this early?"

Sophia turned to her brother beside her, "Because Carlos had a nightmare where you didn't come back."

Rafael looked at the two of them, noting the forlorn and slightly fearful expressions on their faces, before pulling them into a hug. "Don't worry, I promise I'll always come back to you. You're my family and nothing could keep me away."

"Are you going out again today?" Carlos asked, the worry still evident in his voice.

Rafael sighed, "No. Today I'm staying home with you all and your mother." He'd decided that yesterday, after yet another dead end. Truthfully, as much as it hurt him, he didn't have the heart to search for Nico and Pedro today. There was just no way he could face another failure. And so, he'd decided to spend the day with his family.

"Really?" The two chicks looked at him eagerly.

"Really."

They were so excited that they could no longer keep quiet and before long, the whole lot of them were up and running rampant.

After spending a good portion of the next hour trying to feed and get them outside, Rafael and Eva had finally settled down when Blu and Jewel flew into the clearing. Dodging several of the excited feather-ball torpedoes, Blu and Jewel made their way to Rafael.

"You ready to go?" Jewel asked.

Rafael shook his head, "I'm not coming today."

Blu's jaw dropped, "What? Why not?"

"Because I'm spending today with my family," Rafael said simply.

"What about Nico and Pedro?" Jewel exploded. "They need you."

"So does my family," Rafael retorted, "especially since I haven't been able to spend time with them for over three days."

"But Nico and Pedro may not have much time left," Jewel told him.

"Or they could be gone already and there's nothing we can do," Rafael told her gruffly.

Jewel shook her head, "No. There have still been sightings of the talent scout, even if we haven't been able to catch up with him yet. So they're still here. But every minute we waste is a minute less they have. That's why we need _you_."

Rafael's face softened, "I'm sorry guys, but I can't. Not today."

"But-" Blu started.

"Fine," Jewel cut him off. "We don't need you anyway. Come on Blu." She took off. Blu glanced back at Rafael sadly, before he too left and Rafael turned back to his family.

* * *

Pedro stared blankly at his surroundings as tiredness swept over him. It had been a long night.

When Nico and Pedro had made it back to the storage room, Pedro had been in a hysterical state of panic and it had taken the combined efforts of Isobelle and Ming to calm him down. Once they finally had him in a functional state, Ming had given him precise instructions to check Nico. A brief feel of his forehead had immediately revealed that Nico was burning hot. Fever, Ming had told him; most likely to try and fight off infection in the body. Ming had had his suspicions about Nico's wing early on, but until the Canary had wanted help, there was nothing he could do.

Still trying to keep Pedro calm, Ming had told him there were three things he could do to help Nico. Firstly, he needed to try and bring the fever down. Taking initiative from his suggestion, Pedro had torn a piece of the cloth in his cage (Giving him something to sleep on) and had dunked it in his water bowl. Pushing his wing through the bars, Pedro had managed to place the wet cloth on Nico's forehead.

Secondly, Ming had told him that he needed to keep all his wounds clean. It wouldn't stop the infection he already had, but it would go a long way to preventing any other infections Nico could get. After Pedro had cleaned the wounds with another piece of wet cloth, he had resoaked the one on his forehead.

Thirdly, the last thing Pedro could do was make sure Nico ate and drank something when he woke up. Something that had not happened yet. And so, Pedro had spent the rest of the night trying to break Nico's fever and hoping he was going to be alright.

He was brought out of his musings by a small groan beside him, and Pedro quickly turned to it. Nico shifted a little before opening his eyes. They were still a bit glassy and he was a little pale, but nowhere near as bad as last night.

"Hey, how're you feeling buddy?" Pedro asked softly.

Nico shifted his gaze to Pedro. "Tired. Hot," his expression became slightly confused, "and yet cold. Just awful all round." He closed his eyes. "What happened?"

"You collapsed after our performance," Pedro deadpanned.

"Our performance," Nico realised sitting up slightly. "We did good didn't we?"

Pedro smirked, "Got the biggest applause of all."

Nico smiled back, "Don't we always?" His smile turned into a grimace as he moved.

"You okay?" Pedro asked worriedly.

"Yeah," Nico gasped back. "I'll be fine. Ugh, why do I feel like this?"

"You got an infection from the cut in your wing," Ming told him. "Your body's trying to fight it off."

"Speaking of which," Pedro became serious. "You need to eat." Moving to his food bowl, he scooped a wingful of bird food out before walking back and dumping it in Nico's lap. "Eat."

Nico shook his head. "I'm not feeling that hungry."

"You need to eat it anyway," Pedro told him. "It'll help you fight the infection. Just try eating some of it."

Sighing, Nico gingerly picked at the food. He managed to finish half of it, before dumping the rest on the ground. "I can't eat anymore."

Pedro just nodded, "You should probably drink something too."

"Yeah, I feel quite thirsty," Nico agreed. Pulling himself up with the cage, he wobbled over to his water bowl. Falling beside it, he scooped up several mouthfuls of water before something struck him as odd. He paused, a frown forming on his face before it turned into a look of panic. "Pedro!"

Pedro turned to see Nico on the verge of a panic attack.

"I can't feel my wing! Why can't I feel my wing?"

Pedro glanced at his left wing, which was indeed hanging limply by his side, and a small pit of worry again settled in his stomach.

"Calm down," Ming told them. "It's perfectly normal for this stage of infection. In fact, I'm surprised you were even able to use it so well yesterday in your performance."

"Am I ever going to be able to use it again?" Nico asked worriedly.

"At this stage: yes," Ming's words caused both Nico and Pedro to relax slightly, "However, it will need to be looked at properly soon. Otherwise, you could indeed lose the wing, or worse."

"Can you fix it?" Pedro asked hopefully.

Ming shook his head, "Unfortunately not. I don't have the supplies to help him out. You'll have to go to our captors for that one."

Pedro turned to see Nico starting to panic again, "Hey, it's alright. Calm down. Panicking won't solve anything."

"I wish he'd come to that conclusion last night," Isobelle mumbled.

Pedro shot her a glare before turning back to Nico. "We'll talk to Martin at practise. They'll help us out. After all, they still want us to be able to perform."

Nico nodded.

"In the meantime, just take it easy. It's not like much can happen in between then."

"Morning birdies." Pedro instantly regretted his words as Shadow approached them. "Did you miss me?"

At the sight of her, Nico's eyes widened and he shuffled as far away from her as his cage would allow him.

"No," Pedro muttered, "we really didn't."

"Pity," Shadow purred, "because I've been looking forward to seeing you again." She turned her eyes on Nico. "I'm actually quite glad we were interrupted yesterday. It gave me time to think of some nice, painful ways to achieve my revenge."

Nico tried to move further back, despite the fact that his back was already against the bars.

"Not so tough now, are we?" Shadow grinned.

"Hey!" Pedro shouted. "Leave him alone!"

Shadow only spared him a disdainful glance, "Nice try feathers but that won't work this time."

Pedro simply grinned at her unfazed. "Why not? You're a stupid enough fur ball to fall for it twice."

Shadow hissed at him, sending a claw out towards him. Unable to dodge it in time, Pedro was knocked breathless to the ground. He struggled to sit up or to call something else out as Shadow approached Nico again, but couldn't get his breath back in time.

Thankfully, however, it seemed like he didn't need to. "Shadow!" Martin called from the doorway. "Leave them alone! Your job is to stop birds escaping, not harassing them in their cages."

"How do you know they weren't trying to escape?" Shadow spat back.

Martin's hard expression didn't waver, "Because I know you. Now get out! Before I get someone to remove you."

Shadow made a hissing noise in the back of throat, "This isn't over." Then she left.

"Thank you," Pedro gasped.

Martin gave a small nod of acknowledgment before he said, "Now. Time for practise."

"Wait," Pedro called desperately. "My friend is hurt bad," he gestured to Nico. "Infection. Please, he needs medical help."

Martin looked at them critically before saying in a quieter voice, "Medical supplies are on the plane. Until then there's nothing I can do. I'll get him medical help when we leave Rio. In the meantime, you don't need to practise and I'll keep an eye on Shadow. You still need to perform though."

They both nodded.

"Thank you," Nico said.

Martin's expression hardened, "Don't thank me. I'm only doing this because of how much you're worth."

* * *

Rafael sighed sadly, his gaze staring blankly ahead. Behind him were the sounds of Eva settling the chicks in the hollow for lunch, but Rafael hardly paid them any mind.

"Alright," Eva approached him with a no nonsense voice, having finally settled the last of their chicks inside with food. "Now what's really wrong?"

Rafael looked at her confused, "I don't know what you mean."

"Uh uh," Eva placed her wings on her hips, "Don't 'I don't know what you mean' me. Why aren't you searching for Nico and Pedro?"

"Can't I want to spend a day with my family?" Rafael shrugged.

"Not when something is so important." She moved closer to him, "I know you Rafael: you're always helping others. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with you." He smiled at her. "So why aren't you today?"

Rafael sighed, "I'm just scared. Everyone else thinks I can do so much. Rafael knows everybody. Rafael can find anything. Rafael can help you in your time of need. But what if I can't? What if, in the time they need it the most, I can't even help two of my best friends? So I'm not looking for them today because I can't stand finding nothing again. I can't fail them again," he trailed off.

Eva pulled him into a hug, "You won't. And you know why? Because you _and_ Blu and Jewel are not the type of birds to quit. No matter how bad the situation seems you never give up." She paused. "But, if you get scared or the pressure feels too great, just remember: your family will always be here to support you. Because we believe in you, and we always will."

Rafael smiled at her, "What did I ever do to get such a beautiful, smart, kind and amazing bird like you."

Eva smiled back, "You were you."

Rafael dipped her and kissed her deeply.

"Eeeewww!"

Eva looked at her husband. "Looks like they're finished lunch."

"Evidently," Rafael smirked.

The rest of the day, Rafael spent with his family. However, he also used the time to think about how to find Nico and Pedro the next day.

When evening came, Blu and Jewel fluttered to his hollow dejectedly.

"Did you find anything?" Rafael asked.

Blu shook his head, "Nothing more than yesterday."

"Maybe they are gone," Jewel said.

Rafael shook his head. "No. They're here still, and tomorrow, we're going to find them."

* * *

Soon after Martin had left Nico succumbed to sleep again, drifting in and out of it all day. During that time, Pedro had tried to cool his fever, cleaned his wounds and had forced him to eat and drink when he'd wake.

Unfortunately, he'd also had to keep the cat away from Nico several times during the day. Man, when that cat wanted revenge, it wanted revenge. Thankfully, Pedro's sharp tongue had been enough to distract Shadow when she came around, and he'd found that he was actually quite good at dodging claws, though he had gotten several scratches perfecting the technique.

There had been a couple of times when he hadn't been quite quick enough to keep Shadow away from Nico but thankfully Martin, had kept his word and had stopped Shadow before she'd been in for too long. Pedro could see, however, that all her thraughted attempts were making her all the more angry and he really hoped she never got an opportunity to spend a long period of time alone with them.

He glanced next to him at Nico worriedly. He had, once again, collapsed after their performance, and Pedro didn't know how much more he could take.

He rubbed his eyes tiredly. It had been a long day.

"You okay?" Ming asked softly.

Pedro just shrugged, "I don't know." He looked at Ming pleadingly. "Are you sure there's nothing more I can do for him?"

Ming shook his head, "The only thing you can do now is to get some rest."

"I'm not tired," Pedro lied automatically, right before yawning.

Ming just raised an eyebrow at him.

"I can't sleep anyway, I've got to take care of Nico," Pedro persisted.

Ming wasn't convinced, "I can reach him tonight, I'll take care of him. You need to rest or you're going to collapse from exhaustion. Then what use will you be?" He smirked, "If you're having trouble sleeping, I can always sing you a lullaby."

Pedro just scowled, "I'm not a chick anymore."

"Hmm," Ming shrugged. "You could have fooled me. You're acting like one."

Pedro's scowl deepened and he turned away from Ming.

"I'd like to hear a song," Isobelle piped up. She shrugged, "I think it will do us all some good to hear some music. You know, proper music: the spontaneous, from the heart music we used to sing. Not the choreographed melodies we do every night." She turned to Ming. "Will you sing for us please?"

Ming just shrugged, "If that's want you want." He paused, contemplating, before he began to sing; his deep, gruff voice resonating throughout the room,_ "Well I know the feeling, of finding yourself stuck out on the ledge._

_And there ain't no healing, from cutting yourself with the jagged edge." _

His eyes turned to Pedro, _"I'm telling you now, it's never that bad._

_Take it from someone who's been where you're at._

_Laid out on the floor and you're not sure you can take this anymore._

_So just give it one more try, a lullaby." _Pedro smirked at his word choice.

"_And turn this up on the radio._

_If you can hear me now, I'm reaching out,_

_To let you know that you're not alone._

_And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell_

_Cause I can't get you on the telephone._

_So just close your eyes,_

_Oh here comes a lullaby, you're very own lullaby."_

He turned to Nico, hoping to make it through his subconscious as well, _"Well please let me take you,_

_Out of the darkness and into the light._

_Cause I have faith in you, that you're going to make it through another night._

_Stop thinking about, the easy way out. _

_There's no need to go and blow the candle out._

_Because you're not done, you're far too young,_

_And the best is yet to come."_

Lifting his head he sang louder,

"_So just give it one more try, a lullaby._

_And turn this upon the radio._

_If you can hear me now, I'm reaching out _

_To let you know that you're not alone._

_And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell_

_Cause I can't get you on the telephone._

_So just close your eyes,_

_Well here comes a lullaby, your very own lullaby."_

He paused, looking at Pedro, _"Well everybody's hit the bottom._

_Everybody's been forgotten,_

_When everybody's tired of being alone."_

He glanced at Nico, _"Everybody's been abandoned. _

_Left a little empty handed,_

_So if you're out there barely hanging on."_

His expression hardened and he sang loudly, _"Just give it one more try, a lullaby. _

_And turn this up on the radio. _

_If you can hear me now, I'm reaching out,_

_To let you know that you're not alone._

_And you can't tell, I'm scared as hell_

_Cause I can't get you on the telephone._

_So just close your eyes,_

_Well here comes a lullaby, your very own lullaby." _He finished softly.

Pedro felt the energy and worry drain out of him and his eye lids became heavy.

"Sleep now Pedro," Ming said. "Tonight I'll take care of your brother."

Pedro nodded and finally stopped fighting the sleepiness. And, for the first time in four days he slept.

* * *

**Tad-da :). Congratulations AlaskaForever, you were right: Nico does have an infection. Oh and I know that the wing thing (not being able to feel it) is not completely correct but I thought it was a cool twist anyway. So I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter :). Please review :).**


	11. Chapter 11: Playing with fire

**Author's note: Okay, so this is one of my favourite characters. I really hope you enjoy it.**

**Apple-chan: I know, I love the song. The film clip made me cry.**

**AlaskaForever: Yeah, I really liked Ming's story, I wanted to show how much some birds had lost. Haha, cool. Despite how evil she is, I really like Shadow's character: so much fun to write :), as for Rafael, I thought it would be nice to see how much pressure and worry was on them too, trying to find Nico and Pedro.**

**Glad you're all enjoying this.**

* * *

Pedro woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. He'd forgotten how much a good night sleep could do. Still waking up, Pedro sat up and yawned. He glanced over at the cages beside him to see Nico still asleep, just like last night, with Ming looking after him. The Canary tossed and turned a bit, muttering under his breath with a grimace. As Ming placed a cloth on his head Nico's grimace subsided and his movements relaxed.

"How is he?" Pedro asked.

The Warbler sighed, "Not good. His fever is getting worse and he hasn't woken up yet. He's also started mumbling incoherently. Something about a bottle cap?"

"Oh," Pedro said softly. "I'd almost forgotten about that. Before we were caught Nico used to wear a bottle cap on his head. It was his signature. But Jarvis threw it away when he caught us; said it was unprofessional." He scowled.

"He's a snake that one," Isobelle muttered. "I've never liked him."

Pedro nodded, "It gets worse. You see, it was the only thing he had to remember his parents by."

"Your parents," Ming asked, "they are dead?"

Pedro shook his head, "No, my parents are very much alive and well. In fact they're currently visiting my aunt in Sao Paulo." He paused. "Nico's, parents however, is a different story."

Isobelle looked at him curiously, "This has to do with how you became brothers doesn't it?" Pedro nodded. "Then … why are you telling us?"

Pedro looked at them, "After everything you've done for us, you have the right to know. I think Nico would agree with me."

"If that is how you feel then we'll gladly listen. Know however, that you may stop should you need to," Ming told him. Pedro nodded, before beginning their tale.

* * *

_It was a bright summer's day in Rio when it happened. The midday sun shone brightly on the roof where a Cardinal family perched. The mother's bright red crest curled down framing her face while her black and grey feathers were lighter than the normal Cardinals. Her husband, on the other hand, had darker than normal feathers, black feathers where grey should have been and grey where the white feathers should be. _

_Together the two of them watched their three year old son as he sung in a high pitched voice and danced already better than most his age. As the song ended, he looked excitedly at his parents._

"_How's that dad?"_

_His father chuckled, ruffling the upright feathers on his son's head. "That was great Pedro. Soon you'll be as good as your old man."_

_The little Cardinal grinned before his eyes fixed onto something else. "Fire."_

"_Yes dear, you were on fire," his mother complimented him._

_Pedro shook his head and pointed, "Fire."_

_His parents turned around and gasped at the thick plume of smoke rising above the city. Gathering up their son, the Cardinals flew towards the flames to see what had happened, and maybe to lend a wing._

_When they got to the source they saw that one of the holiday homes had caught on fire while several fire fighters tried hard to put it out. Several other birds watched the spectacle below sadly. One of them, a teenaged Toucan, flew in their direction. _

"_Gloria, Carlos, Pedro," he greeted them._

_Martin nodded his head, "Rafael. So what's the news?"_

_Rafael sighed, "No good. Nothing's moved in there since the fire fighters arrived. And with the smoke, I'd say anything in there will be dead."_

"_Has anyone come out at all?" Gloria asked._

_Rafael shook his head. _

_While they had been talking, Pedro had fluttered precariously close to the house. _

"_Pedro!" Gloria exclaimed. "Get away from there now!"_

"_But mum, I can hear crying," the little Cardinal replied earnestly. "I think someone's down there."_

_Rafael flew closer to Pedro, straining his ears to see if he could pick anything up. Then he heard it: the almost inaudible sound of tiny sobs. Without a second thought, the teenager dove through the broken roof and into the house._

"_Rafael!" Pedro's mum called. "Get back here. Rafael!"_

_But Rafael wasn't listening. Holding his breath, he fell through the smoke before landing on the carpet below. In the centre of the room, a human couple lay unmoving in the bed, never to wake up from each other's embrace. _

_He heard the sobs again and turned his head towards the cage sitting on the table. Inside lay two Canaries. The larger one had dark yellow feathers and a bottle cap sat on his head. In his wings he held the smaller Canary. Her feathers were lighter than his but with a splash of brown on the tips. They both lay there so peacefully that one might have thought they were sleeping but Rafael knew better. _

_A slight movement caught his attention. A small Canary, probably only two, moved back and forth between the two limp forms, shaking them._

"_Mama," he sobbed. "Papa. I'm scared. What's going on?" The two Canaries didn't move. "Please. Wake up. Wake up," he shook them harder._

_Rafael's heart broke at the sight. With a quick flutter of his wings he landed on the table._

"_Eep!" The Canary dove for cover behind his father's bottle cap._

"_Hey," Rafael called softly, carefully undoing the latch, "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm Rafael and I'm a friend. What's your name?"_

"_Nico," came the soft reply. A pair of large, tear streaked, brown eyes poked up from behind the larger Canary._

"_Hey Nico," Rafael smiled. "Now, we need to get out of here. It's too dangerous to stay."_

"_Mama and Papa too?" The bird asked innocently, coming out from his hiding spot._

_Rafael sighed, "No Nico, just you and me."_

_Nico's eyes again filled with tears as he knelt by his parent's heads. "But, but, but," he cried._

_Rafael glanced nervously around him. They didn't have much time. The smoke was still getting thicker. Already Rafael was having a hard time breathing. He had no idea how much longer the chick would last. Making up his mind, he jumped into action. "No time," he called as he reached his foot through the door, scooping up the chick._

"_No!" Nico cried, his little wings reaching back towards his parents. However, all he could reach was the edge of his dad's bottle cap. As Rafael took off, Nico's tight grip pulled the cap along with him, but the still forms of his parents continued to lie at the bottom of the cage. "Mama! Papa!"_

_Rafael blinked back tears at what he'd had to do. But he'd had to do it, otherwise Nico would have joined his family in heaven._

_With a quick burst of speed, he shot through the hole in the roof and out into the fresh air. Panting heavily and coughing slightly he landed on a nearby roof._

"_Rafael!" A voice called. He turned to see the Cardinal family flying towards him. Gloria continued her rant, "Of all the reckless things to do! Wait till I tell your mother. She'll-"_

_Rafael uncurled his foot to reveal the weeping Canary._

"_Oh my!" Gloria's attitude completely changed and the next second she had the chick in her wings, rocking him gently and crooning softly. Slowly Nico's sobs subsided and he fell asleep. Gloria's eyes softened as she gazed at the sleeping Canary. "Carlos can we-"_

"_No Gloria," Carlos shook his head. "We can't keep him."_

"_But Carlos, look at him. He's so small and he just lost his parents. What will happen to him?"_

_Carlos looked at his wife's puppy dog eyes and the child sleeping peacefully in her wings, and his heart melted slightly. "Alright, we can keep him."_

"_Thank you." She pecked him on the cheek._

_Pedro had been looking curiously at the new bird so Gloria lowered her wings so he could see him. "Pedro, meet your new brother, um…"_

"_Nico," Rafael told her. "He said his name was Nico."_

"_Nico," Gloria smiled. "Meet your new brother Nico."_

_Uncurling his foot again, Rafael handed the bottle cap to Carlos, "Take this. It was his father's. He should have something to remember them by."_

_Carlos nodded, "Thanks Rafael. You're a good bird."_

* * *

"And that's how it happened," Pedro finished. "To tell the truth, I only remember bits and pieces from the day. Most of the story we found out when we were older from Rafael and our parents. To me, Nico's always been my brother."

Isobelle wiped some tears away from her eyes. "That's so sad. I can't imagine losing my family so young. It couldn't have been easy for him."

"No," Pedro's face saddened, "it wasn't. Not only did he grieve the passing of his parents but he also had a hard time from some of the birds around." He scowled. "Canaries aren't very common in Rio, and they're also one of the smallest birds. That plus the news about what happened to his parents made him a prime target for bullies. His confidence was shot for years and I spent a lot of my time defending him, until one day he'd had enough." His face filled with pride. "Took on the biggest bully and won. Birds left him alone after that and his self-confidence finally started to rise."

"Sounds like the two of you were close even then," Ming contemplated.

"Yeah," Pedro smiled. "Well I caught him a couple of days after the fire singing in the tree. When I found out he loved music as much as me we became as thick as thieves." He grinned. "We became quite a pair. Birds used to call us the troublesome two after all the trouble we caused. The only bird ever to get us under control was Rafi. Even then he had a knack for handling unruly birds."

Isobelle sat quietly, considering what he said about him and Nico becoming close through music before saying, "So I guess in a way, even though you're not brothers by blood, you are kind of brothers by music."

Pedro sat stunned, "Brothers by music." Then he grinned. "I like it!" Then his expression faded and he glanced worriedly at Nico. "I just hope I get the chance to use it." He sighed, "I really hope he's okay."

"What? Are you telling me that your friend is unwell?" A malicious voice called from the doorway. Pedro turned to face Shadow as she entered. Upon sight of Nico's feverish form she grinned, "My, yes he does look like he's in pain. Perhaps I should put him out of his misery."

Pedro's feathers bristled, "Oh no you don't you overgrown fur ball. No egotistical, psychotic, cowardly, good for nothing pet is going to touch my brother without going through me first."

Shadow narrowed her eyes at him before shrugging, "Fine." However, instead of swiping at him through the bars like normal, she grabbed his cage, throwing it in the air before it came crashing back down. Disorientated, Pedro didn't see her paw coming until it was too late. He went flying back into the bars before falling with a cry to the ground.

Satisfied, Shadow turned back to Nico. As she grabbed his limp form, Nico's eyes shot open and he looked around in panic.

"Shh," Shadow purred. "Don't worry, I'm here to help put you out of your misery." Her grip tightened around his fragile body, causing him to gasp in pain, "Of course, I'm going to make sure your last moments are as painful as possible. We wouldn't want you to get away too easily."

"No!" Pedro gasped, crawling close to Nico. "Leave him alone. Nico!"

Shadow paused, "Ah, so your name is Nico." She grinned, "Well Nico, it's nice to finally know your name. I do like knowing the names of my victims." Nico continued to gasp and struggle as her paw continued to tighten.

"Shadow!" Pedro almost cried in relief when Martin shouted from the doorway. "Put. Him. Down."

Shadow shrugged, "If you insist." She dropped Nico, causing him to cry out in pain as he landed on his left wing. Curling in on himself he soon succumbed to unconsciousness unable to handle the pain.

Martin stalked up to Shadow, his face livid. "How many times have I told you to leave the performers alone! You know how much they're worth. I swear, if you try to go after them one more time, I will go to Jarvis and Arthur and have you kicked out. Understood?"

Shadow's eyes flashed, "Maybe. But who are they going to believe; me or the cowardly traitor?" Her voice became a low hiss, "We both know there's a reason why I gave you that scar. Next time I'll finish the job."

Martin didn't flinch, "We both know that I'm too valuable. That's why you weren't allowed to kill me the first time. Now. Get. Out."

Shadow shrugged. "I may not be able to get my revenge, but I don't mind that much. He's not going to last much longer anyway." And with that, she strutted out.

"Cowardly traitor?" Pedro asked.

Martin turned to him, exposing the long scar running across his face. "Did you think that you performers were the only ones to try and escape?" he said softly. "I told you: no one gets out. Not even those in charge." Without another word he left.

Pedro's attention was quickly diverted by a small whimpering sound beside him. Nico lay curled in on himself, shivering and whimpering in pain. Pedro's stomach dropped as he remembered Shadow's parting words: _He doesn't have much longer anyway. _

Pedro sighed, looking desperately at the roof, "Hurry Rafi. I don't think we have much longer."


	12. Chapter 12: Not much longer

**Author's note: Hey :) so next chapter's up. The song in this chapter is Airplanes by B.o.B ft Hayley Williams. I did change a few words in the song though :). As always, thank you so much for your reviews.**

**AlaskaForever: Glad you liked it. It was a very emotional chapter. Hmm... will have to think about that :). It's a good idea, but I can't go giving you the end of the story now can I? :P**

**Apple-chan: Thanks :) I know, I swear I almost cried writing it. Oh, and you'll just have to see.**

* * *

Rafael, Blu and Jewel flew over Rio with fresh determination. Today they were going to find Nico and Pedro. They were currently flying over the Ipanima section, having searched the clubs in the area all morning.

"Rafael!" A voice called out. The three turned around, spotting a tired blue and gold parrot flying towards them.

"Angelo," Rafael greeted the parrot, "What brings you here?"

Angelo paused for a sec, getting his breath back before saying, "I came all the way from Feathered Soul. The talent scout you're looking for is there."

The three birds looked at each other. "Are you sure?" Rafael asked him. "We've been chasing rumours for days."

Angelo nodded, "Positive. I saw him with my own eyes."

"Thanks Angie," Rafi said. He turned to the others. "Let's go."

The three birds flew as fast as their wings would carry them; arriving at the northern club in just twenty minutes.

Landing outside, Rafael spoke, "Okay. One of you needs to go in there and see if he's still here. I can't go because I've already met him. If he sees me he'll fly the coop."

"I'll go," Blu volunteered. He entered the club with a clump of other birds, leaving Rafael and Jewel waiting. After several minutes he emerged with a triumphant grin, "He's there. Sitting in the back corner of the club, just as you described him."

"Alright, here's the plan," Rafael told them, "Jewel, you go round to the back entrance, Blu you stay here at the front entrance. I'll go inside and flush him out. When he exits whichever one of you there will catch him, and then call for us. After that we'll have a little talk."

Blu and Jewel nodded, before flying into position.

Rafael entered the club. Inside he was greeted by several 'hellos' and calls of 'Hey Rafi!'. He raised a wing and smiled, however, his eyes continued to scan the crowd. Finally he found the bird he was looking for. There in the back corner, perched the poised, slippery Cockatiel. The bird met Rafael's gaze and his eyes widened in recognition, causing him to pale slightly. Then, just as Rafael predicted, the Cockatiel bolted for the back door, Rafael hot on his heels.

Jarvis passed through the entrance with a cry of achievement, thinking he was free, only to have Jewel pounce on his back the next second, pinning him to the ground with her talons.

"Guys, I got him," she called out.

Rafael and Blu joined her, staring intimidatingly at their captive clutched tightly in Jewel's claw.

"Let me go!" He shouted, squirming. "I didn't come to Rio to be treated like this. Here I was minding my own business when I'm attacked. What kind of hospitality is that?"

"Oh can it," Jewel said. "That's not going to stop us from having a talk with you."

"Now," Rafael said, stepping forward. "Where are Nico and Pedro?"

Jarvis looked at him bewildered, "Who?"

The Toucan's eyes narrowed, "Don't play dumb. You know who we're talking about. Or do I need to refresh your memory from our last encounter? I said that if anything happened to them I would hunt you down: and here we are. Now, where are they?" His voice had a hard note to it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jarvis tried again.

Jewel tightened her grip on him, "Wrong answer. Want to try again?"

"Okay! Okay!" Jarvis almost screeched. "I'll tell you what you want to know." Sensing them relaxing, Jarvis took his chance. He bit down on Jewel's foot, causing her to drop him with a cry.

Before any of them could react, he took off. However, the three bigger birds were soon on his tail.

For a small bird he was fast, not to mention smart. He weaved in and out of streets in a seemingly random pattern, using whatever opportunity presented itself as an obstacle.

The chase continued and Rafael, Jewel and Blu found themselves dodging several washing lines, people and boxes; not to mention several near misses with cars, walls and power lines. However, despite the danger, Rafael saw that they were in fact gaining on him.

Jarvis must have realised this too as the next second he changed tactics. Heading towards a café instead of dodging it like normal, he shot through an open window too small for the others to follow. The other three simply went around it, however, by the time they got to the other side, he was gone.

"I can't believe it," Jewel stated. "All that time to find him and we've lost him already!"

"Hmm," Blu thought. "Maybe not. Give me a sec." He swooped down to an empty table and picked up a discarded map. He spread it out on the roof before flying back down to dip his claw in some mud.

"Now," he said as Rafael and Jewel flew closer. "We started here." He marked off the club on the on the map. "And he lead us on a chase," he traced out the path they'd taken, which looked to Rafael and Jewel to be just as random as when they'd flown it, "and ended up here." Blu finished his drawing. "However, I'm not sure if you can tell, but he's actually been heading in a steady north-east direction. He drew a straight line through the centre of the path. "That coupled with the fact that most travel roughly an equal distance once they lose their tail to their original destination, means his destination is roughly about here." Blu circled a section on the map.

Looking closer, Jewel read, "Calypso Airport."

"Of course," Rafael realised. "Calypso Airport is a private runway, though most know that it's notorious for smuggling. That means they're probably flying them out tonight." He looked at the sun's position; it was late afternoon, meaning they still had a couple of hours left. "Okay, here's what we do: Blu, you go get Linda and Tulio. Get them to the airport, we'll need them to call the police and to help any of the injured birds. Jewel, you go get Luiz. If the cat gets involved, we'll need him to handle it."

"What about you?" Blu asked. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to rally up some help. It's about time us birds took this into our own wings.

* * *

After the cat incident that morning, nothing much else had happened. Thankfully, Shadow hadn't shown up again, however unfortunately, Nico hadn't woken up since then either. Pedro felt his gut churning in worry. It was drawing closer to their performance and Pedro had no idea of they were even going to pull it off. Nico was in no shape to perform.

All of a sudden, loud voices could be heard outside the room in what seemed to be an argument. The door flung open and several disgruntled employees entered, followed by an angry looking Arthur. On his shoulder perched Jarvis, looking just as ruffled as everyone else. Upon entry, he shot Nico and Pedro a deadly glare, causing Pedro to take a step backwards.

_What did we do? _Pedro wondered.

"Pack them up," Arthur ordered. Grumbling, the workers started carrying out cages. One came over and picked up Nico and Pedro's cages, however, instead of taking them to the auditorium like normal, the workman carried them outside and stuck them in the back of a van.

"Wait. What's going on?" Pedro asked panicked.

Ming, who had just been placed down across from them sighed, "We're leaving for the airport."

"What? No!" Pedro shook his head in disbelief, "We can't be. Rafi hasn't found us yet."

"Be that as it may," Ming continued, "We are still leaving Rio. I'm sorry Pedro but I'm afraid your friend just wasn't fast enough."

"No," Pedro mumbled, sliding to the bottom of his cage.

The following trip ensued in silence. All the birds knew what was happening and knew there was no reason to celebrate. It seemed Rio was just going to be another stop on this seemingly endless nightmare that had become their life.

Finally, they pulled up at the airport and the employees unloaded them from the van.

Pedro took a deep breath of fresh air and his heart soared at the familiarity before plummeting as he wondered if this was the last time he was ever going to see Rio. This was his home, the only place he'd ever known; and he was about to lose it.

A small groan brought Pedro out of his dark thoughts. He turned with delight to find Nico awake. "Nico."

Nico looked at him, eyes glassy, and asked sluggishly, "What's going on? Where are we?"

Pedro's smile faded. "We're leaving Rio. Rafi didn't make it," he said softly.

Nico's face clouded, "Oh."

His eyes drooped back down. "Goodbye Rio," he yawned then finished almost inaudibly, "Good bye Pedro."

Pedro's forehead furrowed. "What do you mean goodbye? I'm coming too." Nico didn't respond causing Pedro to suddenly fear the worst. "Nico!" Pedro roughly shook him. The Canary stayed asleep, though, to Pedro's relief, his chest still rose and fell.

_At least I don't have to worry about that at the moment, _Pedro thought hopelessly as the plane drew nearer. Then again, that was the only thing going right at the moment.

"_Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?"_ Pedro turned to see Isobelle singing softly, similar thoughts obviously running through her head.

"_I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now._

_Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?_

_I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now."_

"**Yeah," **Pedro rapped softly, **"I could use a dream or a genie or a wish,**

**To go back to a place much simpler than this. **

**Cause after all the partying, and the smashin' and the crashin',**

**And all the glitz and the glam and the fashion,**

**And all the pandemonium and all the madness.**

**There comes a time when you fade to the blackness.**

**And when you're staring at that phone in your lap,**

**And you're hoping that those people never call you back.**

**But that's just how the story unfolds,**

**You get another hand soon after you fold.**

**And when your plans unravel in the sand, **

**What would you wish for if you had one chance?**

**So airplane, airplane sorry I'm late.**

**I'm on my way so don't close that gate.**

**If I don't make that then I'll switch my flight**

**And I'll be right back be at it by the end of the night."**

"_Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?_

_I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now._

_Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?_

_I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now."_

"**Yeah, somebody take me back to the days, **

**Before this was a job, before I got paid.**

**Before it ever mattered what I had in my bank.**

**Yeah, back when I was tryin' to get a chip in the subway.**

**And back when I was rapping for the hell of it, **

**But nowadays we rapping to stay relevant.**

**I'm guessing that if we can make some wishes outta airplanes,**

**Then maybe oh maybe I'll go back to the days,**

**Before the politics that we call the rap game,**

**And back when ain't nobody listen to my mixtape**

**And back before I tried to cover up my slang.**

**But this before Arthur caught Pedro hey.**

**So can I get a wish, to end the politics,**

**And get back to the music that started all this?**

**So here I stand and then again I say, **

**I'm hopin' we can make some wishes outta airplanes."**

"_Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?_

_I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now._

_Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?_

_I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now. Ooh"_

"**I could really use a wish right now."**

"_Ooh-oh-oh-oh. Mmmm."_

"**Like shooting stars."**

"_Oooh, oh-ooh-oh-oh."_

"**I could really use a wish, a wish right now,"** Pedro trailed off.

As he finished, he felt his cage being picked up and he panicked. It finally hit home that they were leaving Rio and there was nothing he could do about it.

After he was stuck in the cargo hold, Pedro drank in his last look at Rio before closing his eyes. _Please, _he wished, _let me and Nico get through this okay._


	13. Chapter 13: Bird power

**Author's note: Hey guys, :). I'm so sorry that I'm late but I've had a hectic week. I hope this chapter makes up for it. It's the climax. :). There's a lot of action in this chapter so I hope you enjoy it.**

**AlaskaForever: Yeah, but he gets what's coming to him :) you'll see.**

**Apple-chan: don't give up on them yet: they're going as fast as they can.**

**Enjoy :)**

* * *

Rafael pumped his wings, glancing nervously at the already dark sky. He didn't have much time left. His heart soared when the airport came into sight and he saw movement in the area. Several humans were moving cages into the back of an airplane, and even though the Toucan couldn't spot Nico and Pedro amoungst the cages, he knew he was in the right place as he spotted Jarvis flying around.

With a nod to his companions, Rafael flew down alone and landed in the centre of activity. "Hey Jarvis," he shouted. "Where'd you think you're going? We haven't finished our talk."

"You!" Jarvis looked furious. "What are you doing here?"

"Same as before," Rafael said calmly, "I want my friends back. Now hand them over or I'll take them back forcefully."

Jarvis laughed, "You and what army?"

"This one!" Jarvis looked up, surprised to see several birds fly down to stand with Rafael. Several others perched around them. Amoungst them were Kipo, Angelo and several of the other club owners and performers. Rafael didn't say he knew everyone for no reason. And after everything he did to help around Rio, when he asked for a favour, it was accepted. So here they stood, facing down the humans.

"Attack!" Kipo shouted and chaos ensued.

Birds flew in swarms at the humans: cawing and scratching with efficiency. At the sight of the dove of birds, several of the workmen made a run for it. Others, thinking they could take them on, futilely tried to fight them off. Those birds who weren't fighting worked in tandem to pull off the ropes and bungie cords that secured the cages together and used them to stop the fleeing and fighting humans alike.

"Shadow!" Arthur roared as he fought off the birds, "Get them."

Shadow's green eyes lit up with delight. "With pleasure." Wasting no time, she pounced on the nearest bird, a Scarlet Macaw, causing it to scream in fear. "Gotcha," she purred before she went for the kill.

A loud growl was the only warning she had before her swipe was intercepted by an immense force in her side. She tumbled to the side before being pinned by an angry Bulldog. Shadow cowered in fear as Luiz growled at her.

"Take that!" Jewel called from atop of Luiz before she took off to join the fray with a battle cry.

* * *

Jarvis watched as his empire fell all around him in what appeared to be a detached manner. He didn't move, and he didn't look phased by the chaos. However under his cool exterior hid a burning anger. Who did they think they were to destroy his life's work? After everything he'd done, all the birds he'd destroyed and all the lies that he'd told, they thought they could make that mean nothing. Ha! Did they really think that he'd give it all up without a fight?

He knew that there was nothing he could do for WIM now; too many knew its secrets. But that didn't mean he couldn't make the ones responsible pay. As he thought this, his gaze locked onto the Toucan searching through the cages, obviously looking for his comrades. His eyes narrowed. Those three were responsible for his demise. Well, if his dream was ruined, then he'd make sure theirs was too. He'd make sure that the Toucan never found his missing companions; that those two party birds never made it out of this alive.

With that in mind, Jarvis flew down to the plane's cargo hold, spotting his victims. He didn't have to worry about the Canary; it would be dead soon anyway (though he would still get pleasure finishing it off). At least that cat had done something right. The Cardinal, on the other hand, would have to be disposed of. Now he just had to think of a way to kill it.

Jarvis's eyes landed on an object on the ground and he smiled. _Perfect._ He swooped down and picked up the already open pocket knife, then, readying his weapon, Jarvis dove down for the kill.

However, before he could reach his target, a feathery torpedo collided with him. He fell to the side, the knife dropping from his grip. Enraged, Jarvis turned to face the intruder, only to come face to face with his brother.

"Martin, you traitor!" He screamed. "How could you?"

"No, how could you?" Martin responded calmly. "Those birds are innocent. I will not let you take their freedom again. This madness ends now!"

Jarvis threw himself at Martin with a feral scream, intent on killing the bird himself. However, despite the ferocity of his attacks, his insane anger made him sloppy and Martin calmly parried each move with ease. Jarvis knew he was in a losing battle, so in one last desperate move, he launched himself at Martin's throat. Martin however, pulled his legs up in a flip and caught Jarvis's claws. His momentum pulled him over and down he ended up sending his brother smashing into an empty cage on the ground.

Before Jarvis could launch another attack, Martin flew in and slammed the door shut before clicking the lock into place.

"No!" Jarvis threw himself at the bars, "It will not end like this!"

Martin shook his head, "It's over brother."

"No! No one escapes WIM. No one!"

"Times change," Martin said shortly.

Jarvis narrowed his eyes, "This isn't over. I will be back for my revenge."

Martin turned away, "And I'll be waiting."

* * *

Rafael hadn't joined in the fight (not that they'd needed much help) and instead had decided for searching for his still missing companions. He hadn't been able to find them in the stack of cages on the ground, which meant they must be in the airplane. He flew to the cargo hold to continue his search.

"Rafi!" A gratifyingly familiar voice called out, causing Rafael's heart to leap. He turned around, only for his beak to drop open at the sight of his friend. "Are you okay?" he asked concerned.

Pedro was a mess: his feathers were rumpled and dirty and he'd noticeably lost weight. Multiple cuts lacerated his body and the wild look in his eyes made Rafael wonder how much sleep Pedro had gotten.

"I'll be alright," Pedro brushed the question off.

Rafael looked at him doubtfully, before his expression turned serious. "Don't worry," Rafael said determinedly, "I'll get you out of here."

"No!" Pedro said quickly, his behaviour becoming erratic. "Please. Rafi, you have to help Nico! Please. I-I, I don't know how much time he has left."

A cold pit of dread formed in Rafael's stomach. "Where is he?" Pedro pointed and Rafael's stomach dropped at the state of his friend.

At the bottom of his cage, Nico lay so pale and so still Rafael almost thought he was dead before he saw the just visible rise and fall of his chest. He obviously needed help; and fast.

Rafael turned to look around him, noticing Tulio and Linda's car pull up. "I'll be right back," he told Pedro.

* * *

Tulio and Linda gazed in awe at the scene before them. After Blu had forcefully led them out to the airport, they were surprised to find what appeared to be a busted smuggling heist. Birds in cages lay half way between being stacked in the airplane, while the humans responsible for the heist were tied up with birds watching over them. Tulio knew birds were smart but he'd never thought to this scale.

"Oh my word," Linda breathed, before scratching Blu's head, "This is what you were trying to show us, you smart bird, huh."

A squawk in front of him brought Tulio's attention to the Toucan standing by his feet. "Hey don't worry little fella, I'm not going to hurt you or your friends."

The Toucan squawked again before flying around and pushing Tulio with his head.

"I think he wants you to follow him," Linda said.

Tulio nodded, following the Toucan to the cargo hold where it had landed on a cage. Looking in the cage, Tulio's face morphed into a look of surprise and concern as he noticed the condition of the bird inside.

Swiftly, he picked up the keys laying on the floor and gently removed the Canary. He quickly examined the bird, his face going grave, before he hurried over to Linda. "Linda dear," he said, "call the police. Once they get here explain what happened and get them to send all the caged birds to the bird sanctuary. I'll fix them up there and organise for them to be sent home. But I have to get back now. This little guy doesn't have much time and I've got to get him to the infirmary right away if he's to have any chance of surviving."

Linda nodded.

Jewel and Blu flew over to Rafael, giving him questioning looks.

"Go to the cargo hold," Rafael said simply. "Pedro's there. I'm going with Nico."

Tulio had placed Nico in his jumper on the dashboard when a squawk caught his attention. He turned to find the Toucan looking at him again. "You want to come with your friend don't you?" He moved to the side, letting Rafael fly in and land on the passenger seat before climbing in himself and starting for the sanctuary.

* * *

The rest of the night had passed in a blur of events. The police had arrived at the airport, only to be just as dumbfounded as Tulio and Linda had been. Never the less, they had still taken the men into custody and had then sent the birds to Tulio.

There, Pedro had been looked at, having his cuts cleaned and disinfected and his shock bracelet removed. Now he sat with a bowl of food watching the sun rise over Rio. Pedro gazed at the scene in wonder. Due to how late he normally slept in, it had been a while since Pedro had last seen a sunrise and quite frankly, he'd forgotten how amazing they were. He just hoped Nico would be able to see another one too.

Despite how long he'd been here, Pedro still hadn't heard anything about his brother's condition. And until he did, the small pit of worry in his chest wouldn't ease.

"Hey Pedro!" Pedro turned around with a smile to greet Blu and Jewel, however before he could say anything, he was suddenly in the centre of a tight group hug.

"We're so glad you're okay," Jewel said.

"Yeah, it's great to see you too," Pedro managed to gasp out. "But I can't breathe."

The two Blue Macaws quickly put him down.

Pedro gasped in a huge breath, "Thanks."

"What don't you like hugs?" Jewel joked.

"Not when they're crushing me to death," Pedro retorted.

"You never did like hugs. Not even as a kid. You'd always complain to your mum that she was messing up your crest," Rafael commented as he joined the group.

"Well she did," Pedro shot back.

Rafael chuckled, "You should just be thankful that they're visiting your aunt in Sao Paulo at the moment. Had they been here when you two had disappeared they probably would have torn Rio down in an effort to find you both."

Pedro rolled his eyes, "Not to mention have taken down all the workers at the airport singlehandedly." He groaned. "Oh no, when mum finds out what happened she won't let us out of her sight for a month."

"Hey it could be worse," Rafael said.

"Yeah," Pedro sighed.

Rafael put a wing on Pedro's shoulder only to draw it back quickly as he winced. "Sorry."

Pedro shrugged, "It's fine. They're my fault anyway."

Critically looking at the cuts all over the Cardinal's body Rafael frowned, "What happened?"

"The cat came after me because I was calling it names," Pedro grinned.

Rafael put a wing over his face as Blu and Jewel gaped at him.

"Don't worry, I got good at dodging claws," he reassured them, acting out some of his moves.

"Oh Pedro," Rafael mumbled. "Only you would do that."

Blu continued to stare at him incredulously, "You were in a cage, with nowhere to go and you decide to infuriate a cat. Do I even want to know why you did that?"

Pedro's expression turned serious. "Because she was going after Nico," he mumbled softly.

A silence descended on the three as they realised the implications of what he said.

Pedro took a deep breath before asking Rafael the question that had been on his mind the whole time. "So, any news on Nico?"

Rafael shook his head sadly, "No sorry. He's still in isolation with Tulio."

"Oh," Pedro sighed.

"It'll be alright," Rafael reassured him.

"Thanks."

Rafael looked confused, "What for?"

"For saving us," Pedro explained. "All of you. Thank you for getting us out of there. If you hadn't, I don't know what would have happened."

"Anytime," Blu smiled as Jewel gave him another hug.

"We're family," Rafael nudged him. "It's what we do. I'm just sorry we couldn't get you out sooner."

"Don't worry about it," Pedro brushed it off, "You got us out. That's all I care about."

Rafael looked like he was going to say more when their attention was drawn to Tulio as he entered the room. Upon recognising the Toucan, he approached the four of them.

As he headed towards them, Pedro felt his heart start to pound, he didn't know if he wanted to hear the news or not. However, when Tulio smiled he decided he did want to hear it.

"Your friend's going to be alright," he said. "It was a little sketchy there for a while but he's recovering nicely now. Come, I'll take you to him."

The four birds followed Tulio through to a separate room and Pedro's heart soared when he saw Nico awake and looking more coherent then he had been for days.

"Hey guys," he smiled sleepily.

"Nico!" Pedro yelled, flying full pelt towards his brother, ready to give him a huge hug. However, mid-flight he realised this was probably not a good idea when he saw the bandages on Nico's wing and so he tried to stop himself. Tried being the operative word there. His momentum was just too fast and he ended up tumbling the rest of the way before coming to a stop at the foot of Nico's nest.

Nico chuckled, "It's good to see you too Pedro." He looked at the others as they landed neatly next to Pedro.

"Hey," Jewel smiled, "It's good to see you well again. You gave us quite a scare; for awhile we didn't know if you were going to make it."

"So," Blu asked, "How are you? I mean, are you going to be okay now?"

"Yeah," Nico nodded, "The doctor said that physically, I should be able to do everything I used to do eventually. Of course, it's going to take a while: at least a week before I can fly again and even longer than that to get full use of my wing back. My fever's gone, and Tulio is almost certain it won't come back. So overall I'm good." He yawned, "Just tired."

Rafael looked at him critically, "How about emotionally? Are you going to be okay there?"

Nico's smile wavered slightly but he simply said, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

Pedro and Rafael looked at him disbelieving. "Because you just went through a traumatising ordeal: you were captured for a week, attacked by a cat, got sick and almost died. That's going to have some effect," Rafael told him. "Now are you sure you're going to be okay?"

Nico sighed, "I don't know. With time, I think, I'll be alright. Most of the trauma should go away, but… I don't think I'll ever be quite the same again."

Pedro looked at the ground, taking in what Nico had said. He knew exactly how Nico felt; after all, he had gone through the same thing. He knew Rafael had been concerned about him beforehand but because of how quickly he seemed to bounce back from things and because of how grateful he was at the moment that everyone was alright, he didn't seem to be as bothered by it as Nico; hence why Nico was getting most of the questions. However, despite knowing he'd be okay, Pedro also knew that this ordeal would affect him much longer than he'd let on. He was just grateful that neither of them would have to deal with this alone.

Rafael's voice brought him back to the present, "By the way Nico, I've got something for you. Something that I think will definitely brighten your day."

Nico looked at him curiously before his look morphed into a look of joy. "My bottle cap!" he almost squealed, as Rafael pulled out the object in question. He reached as far as he could towards the offered item, almost falling out of the nest in the process.

Rafael chuckled before passing the bottle cap to Nico, who gave a cry of delight as he stuck it back on his head.

"Oh I missed you," he crooned.

"Amazing," Blu muttered to Jewel, "I swear he'd more excited to see the bottle cap than he is to see us."

However, his comment was drowned out as Pedro squawked, "Hey, what about me? I went through a deadly, traumatic experience too. Where's my present?"

Nico stuck his tongue out at Pedro as everyone else started laughing.

Rafael, however, upon noticing Nico yawn again and struggle to keep his eyes open hushed them, "Alright guys, I think we should let Nico get some sleep. We'll come back later."

Nico simply nodded as the others said goodbye, too tired to even notice them leave. By the time the door closed he was already asleep.

* * *

**So there you have it. Sorry AlaskaForever that Shadow didn't get to taste her own medicine, but I think she got what was coming to her. I feel so sad that this story is coming to an end; there's only one chapter left to go. Hope you enjoy it. Please review :).**


	14. Chapter 14: Aftermath

**Author's note: hey guys :) So this is the last chapter :( so sad. I have had so much fun writing this story and really hope you all enjoyed it. Thank you so much to everyone who favourited, reviewed or reading this story, it means so much to me. A special thank you to both AlaskaForever and Apple-chan, who reviewed the whole way through :D! You guys are awesome!**

**The song in this chapter is Turn up the Music by Chris Brown.**

**AlaskaForever: Haha, :) You were very good at the character analysis, I didn't even know what was going to happen. (In fact Jarvis trying to kill them was a big surprise for me). :)**

**Apple-chan: I'm glad you liked it :), it was one of my favourites. Yeah, I loved how their reunion turned out :)**

**And so, for the last time, hope you all enjoy :)**

* * *

A week after the events of the WIM fiasco found Nico and Pedro atop the Christ Redeemer Statue with Isobelle and Xiao Ming.

Having completely healed, Nico and Pedro had decided to live up to their word and had taken their friends on a grand tour of Rio de Janeiro. However, despite Nico's wing being healed, it was still weak from disuse, meaning that they had to stop frequently to let him rest. Not that any of them minded; every stop was a chance to take in more of the sights. Plus, every time they stopped, Pedro wasted no time in giving detailed information on everything around them, Nico adding in information every now and then.

So now they sat at the end of their tour on Rio's most famous statue letting their guests gape at the wonders around them.

"This place is amazing," Isobelle said. "No wonder you guys love it here. And the tour was brilliant! You could do it professionally."

"Indeed," Ming agreed before smirking, "You can even say it is world famous once we leave."

Pedro and Nico grinned at each other.

"Nico and Pedro's world famous tour of Rio de Janeiro," Nico said. "I like the sound of that."

"Not to mention," Pedro nudged him, "It'll be great for the hot wings. Look out ladies, cause the love hawk is on the hunt!" He let out a funny cawing sound, causing Isobelle to face palm.

"You'll never get a permanent girl with that attitude Pedro."

Pedro raised an eyebrow at her, "Who says I want a permanent girl? Nico and I prefer flying solo."

Nico nodded but Ming just smiled at them knowingly, "Ah, just you wait my friends, when you meet the one, that'll change."

Pedro and Nico looked at each other sceptically. "Ye-ah," Nico drawled. "I don't think so."

"We'll see," Ming said cryptically, causing Isobelle to smile.

"Oh I really wish I could be around to see the day you two do fall."

"Anyway," Pedro said hurriedly, getting off the uncomfortable subject of girlfriends, "we need to be getting back to the sanctuary. You guys are flying out today."

"Right," Isobelle brightened. "Let's go."

* * *

Rio airport was always bustling; full of people coming and going for holidays, business trips and reunions. Overhead, speakers called out plane flights, while all around was filled with the noise of people talking and planes taking off and landing.

In the centre of this chaos stood Tulio and two of his workers: one bound for Paris and the other for China. Each traveller carried a cage containing Isobelle and Ming, both who were excited to be going home.

On Tulio's shoulder perched Nico and Pedro who were happy and yet sad to see their friends go.

"Take care of yourselves," Nico said.

"You too," Ming nodded.

"Yeah," Isobelle added. "Don't go getting yourselves into any more trouble."

"Us trouble?" Pedro said, "What are you talking about?"

Everyone laughed at his statement.

"But seriously," Isobelle continued. "Please take care. We don't want anything else to happen to you. And thank you, for everything you've done."

"Yes," Ming added, "Truly, we are in your debt. We owe you our lives."

"No." Nico shook his head, "You guys saved us too. You owe us nothing."

Overhead the speaker blared, _"Flight PFR169 to Paris, France is now boarding."_

Isobelle's face lit up with excitement as the guy holding her shook Tulio's hand and prepared to leave. "Goodbye!" she called as he started moving. "I'll never forget you!"

Not long after they were out of sight the speaker then announced, _"Flight XCR566 to Bei Jing, China is now boarding."_

"Good bye my friends," Ming rumbled. "It has been an honour meeting you."

"You too bird," Pedro said as Nico nodded.

"And now," Ming smiled. "I'm finally going to see my family again. Thank you." He stared wistfully out the window as the lady holding him headed off.

"Come on guys," Tulio said to them. "Our work here is done."

* * *

Rafael landed outside Nico and Pedro's hollow early in the morning, only to panic slightly when he didn't find them inside. His panic subsided, however, when he heard a call of "Hey Rafi!" from behind him. He turned to see Nico and Pedro standing on a branch above waving down at him.

"Amigos!" Rafael called, "What are you doing up? After what happened you should make sure you're getting all the rest you can."

Pedro shook his head, "Nah, after what happened we decided to make the most of Rio while we can. Isn't that right Nico?"

Nico nodded.

_Ironic, _Rafael thought._ Our logic has completely reversed. And to think: all it took was being bird-napped for a week and a near death experience._

"Besides," Nico continued. "We needed to practise."

"Ah," Rafael nodded. "Your first performance back is today, isn't it. How long has it been?"

"It's been a month since we got out," Pedro said softly.

Silence fell around them.

"You know you don't have to perform yet right? No one will blame you if you don't," Rafael told them.

Nico shook his head. "No, we're still going to do it. It's just something we need to do. You know?"

"Alright," Rafael conceded.

"So, you coming?" Pedro asked.

"Wouldn't miss it," Rafael told them.

* * *

The Branch was packed. News had spread like wildfire that Pedro and Nico had their first performance back today, causing numerous birds to flock to the club. Everyone wanted to see Nico and Pedro perform after so long and to also see how the pair were fairing; which meant there were several more birds than usual at the club. Not that Tipa minded; he was just happy to see the two back and healthy. Too not mention that they still wanted to perform. They were his headliners after all. When they arrived, he greeted them with a bone crushing hug, leaving the two breathless.

After that they had made their way to a secluded corner with Rafi, deciding to ease their way back into things (they got a lot less bone crushing hugs that way).

Not long after, Blu had entered looking dazed. He barely paid attention as he made his way over to the other three.

"Yo Blu what's up? You look out of it," Nico greeted him.

"You come to see our performance?" Pedro asked. "And where's Jewel?"

Blu shook himself off a little, "Sorry guys, she wanted to come but couldn't make it."

"Aww," Pedro and Nico pouted. "Why not?"

"She-" Blu ran a wing through his crest. "You're never going to believe this, but she laid eggs. Three of them. I'm – I'm going to be a dad." The others couldn't decide if Blu looked more proud or scared at that statement but they didn't dwell on it long as they excitedly congratulated the Macaw. "Thanks guys," Blu smiled. "We also wanted to know: would you three like to be their uncles?"

"Dude of course," Pedro practically exploded while Nico vehemently nodded and Rafael exclaimed, "Absolutely."

"Fantastic! Anyway, I have to go after your performance. I need to get back to Jewel."

"No problem," Pedro told him.

"Speaking of performance," Nico looked at Pedro, "we need to get backstage. See you guys after." They waved as they flew off.

Backstage of the Branch, Nico let out a long breath to release the uncomfortable nerves that had built up.

"You okay?" Pedro asked.

"Yeah," Nico nodded, "Just nervous."

"Me too," Pedro admitted.

Nico paused before continuing. "It's just that after what we went through, the thought of performing again scares me a little. And yet, at the same time, I know I have to do this. I have to make sure… I can still do it," Nico trailed off.

"I know," Pedro said softly. "I feel the same way." An applause sounded from outside. "Looks like we're on," Pedro said. "And Nico, don't worry. We'll be alright and we'll face whatever comes together."

Nico just nodded before they flew out. Taking a deep breath he let the music take over.

The lights came up and Nico sang, _"Turn up the music cause this song just came on._

_Turn up the music if they try to turn us down._

_Turn up the music. Can I hear it till the speakers blow?_

_Turn up the music, fill your cup and drink it down."_

Pedro took over, getting the crowd involved, **"If you're sexy and you know it, put your wings up in the air.**

**Put your wings up in the air. Put your wings up, wings up, wings up, wings up.**

**If you're sexy and you know it, put your wings up in the air.**

**Put your wings up in the air. Put your wings up and."**

"_**Turn up the music," **_ they sang together.

"_Just turn it up louder," _Nico added.

"_**Turn up the music."**_

"_I need it in my life yeah."_

"_**Turn up the music."**_

"_Just turn it up louder."_

"_**Turn up the music."**_

"_I need it in my life yeah."_

"_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh," **_they sang.

"_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh."**_

"_Turn up the music."_

"_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh.**_

_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh."**_

"_Turn up the music. T-turn up the music. T-turn up the."_

"**Turn up the music cause the sun just came up." **Pedro took over now.

"**Turn up the music if they try to turn us down.**

**Turn up the music cause I'm tryna hear the speakers blow.**

**Turn up the music, fill your cup and drink it down."**

"_If you're sexy and you know it, put your wings up in the air," _Nico sang.

"_Put your wings up in the air. Put your wings up."_

"**Put your wings up, wings up, wings up, wings up."**

"_If you're sexy and you know it, put your wings up in the air._

_Put your wings up in the air. Put your wings up and."_

"_**Turn up the music."**_

"**Just turn it up louder."**

"_**Turn up the music."**_

"**I need it in my life yeah."**

"_**Turn up the music."**_

"**Just turn it up louder."  
**_**"Turn up the music."**_

"**I need it in my life yeah."**

They started up another round of woahs, getting the audience involved this time as they flew overhead.

"_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh." **_

"_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh."**_

"_Turn up the music."_

"_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh.**_

_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh."**_

"_Turn up the music."_

"_Save my life,"_ Nico sang.

"**Just dance with me."**

"_All I wanna do is party, so DJ turn it up. _

_Girl dance with me."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Girl come on dance now._

_I really wanna dance now._

_Baby come on dance now."_

"**T-turn up the."**

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

Pedro landed on the dance floor, taking up the space with his infamous moves.

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Turn it up."_

Together they flew back up to the stage before they launched once more into the chorus, _**"Turn up the music." **_

"_Just turn it up louder," _Nico added.

"_**Turn up the music."**_

"_I need it in my life yeah."_

"_**Turn up the music."**_

"_Just turn it up louder."_

"_**Turn up the music."**_

"_I need it in my life yeah."_

"_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh." **_

"_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh."**_

"_Turn up the music."_

"_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh.**_

_**Woah-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-ohhh."**_

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

They continued singing, just enjoying everyone jumping along with the music and having a good time.

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_T-t-turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_T-t-turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_Turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_T-t-t-t-t-t-turn it up."_

"**Just dance with me."**

"_**Can't stop the music."**_

Nico and Pedro finished to a massive round of applause. They still had it.

Looking out at the sea of faces before him, Nico felt content. He knew things would never be quite the same. But as he felt his brother's presence beside him and saw Rafael's proud face in the crowd next to the new father-to-be Blu, both who were clapping and cheering away, the Canary didn't mind. He had his friends; he had his family; he had his _freedom_; and he still had his love of music. And for now, that's all that mattered.

* * *

**Tada :). I really hope you enjoyed that. Just a small note, the first section of this chapter was a bit of a link in to the story that comes after this, Nightingale (Which I've already written) so don't worry if it didn't make complete sense. **

**Thank you all again for reading this :) Hopefully I'll have some ideas for a sequel maybe. But for now, I'm going to take a little bit of a break from my writing and focus on my novel for a bit. Until next time,**

**Candlestic :)**


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